The Sexual Initiation of Severus Snape

TSIOSS_7

Chapter 7: Denouement

You probably will find it hard to believe-but I almost did manage to forget him. Oh, not at first, of course. For the next three months I would often find myself hurrying down the street, glancing behind me and trying to shake the uncomfortable feeling that he was there, following me. And every time the phone rang or the doorbell sounded, I would panic for a few moments, wondering if he had returned. But when the hot summer finally faded away into the coolness of autumn I began to relax a little, confident that by now he was at school and not likely to be dropping in on me again.

As the years sped by, I thought of him less frequently, especially after I made the decision to seek out a new way to support myself. There were just too many scary diseases starting to crop up, so when a friend asked me to go into a gift delivery business with her, I gladly agreed. She had hit upon the idea of making \'personalized\' gift baskets-ranging from flowers to toys to food, etc. and after a few years we had done well enough to hire other people do to the footwork while we concentrated on promoting and managing the business.

But there was one little old lady for whom I always made an exception and did the delivery myself. She had lived in her flat for over fifty years and absolutely refused to leave it-despite the fact the neighborhood had gone to hell around her. Well, at least it seemed to be a awfully dingy street, with some rather weird characters lurking around. But her daughter had been one of our very first customers, ordering a large basket of sweets to be delivered for her birthday. When I had brought it up to her flat, she had been overjoyed and insisted that I come in for tea. I sensed that the poor old thing had hardly any visitors, for the same thing happened each year. In fact, we delivered to her quite regularly now, and I had begun to suspect that the old lady occasionally phoned in an order for herself-just as an excuse to have company come by. Not that I really minded-I always threw in more than a few \'extras\' for her basket because I liked her and felt rather sorry for her.

Anyway, I was coming out of her building, feeling quite good about myself and exceptionally pleased with my generosity when I happened to glance across the street and saw him. Although it had been so many years and he was no longer a lad, there was definitely no mistaking that tall, dark figure. He was leaning against the side of the building, his arms folded across his chest and a large scowl upon his face. But, even more amazingly, none of the people hurrying past him seemed to be paying any attention to him, despite the fact that his black hair still reached down to his shoulders and that he was dressed rather oddly in a bespoke long frock coat. The garment itself seemed strangely out of of place, made of a rich fabric and a peculiar design that harkened back to another century at least. But it had been cut exquisitely to set off his long, thin frame, fitting especially snugly around his shoulders and waist before flaring out again over his hips.

Underneath this garment were black trousers, cut tightly around his legs and then draping gracefully over a pair of highly polished boots with pointed toes. Although it was difficult to see at this distance, I could almost swear that there was a row of buttons running down the sides of his ankles, and I suddenly found myself imagining that I was undoing them to reveal the darl, wooly hair covering the pale skin of his calves and thighs

I had stopped dead in my tracks to stare at him, and after a moment he raised his eyes and looked across the street at me. For a moment there was a curious look upon his face as he studied me, and he seemed both startled and rather irritated that I had happened to notice him. But as he continued to glare at me his eyebrows suddenly drew together and as his mouth opened in surprise, I realized that he had finally recognized me. Uncrossing his arms, he pushed away from the wall and continued to peruse me with interest, and I felt my heart begin to beat rather painfully against my ribs as I wondered if he intended to approach me.

At that moment, a double decker bus rumbled down the street and stopped in front of me, blocking our view of one another. Grateful for the interruption, I hurried down the street and turned into the alley where I had parked my car. My hands were trembling as I reached into my purse and I had difficulty trying to fit the key into the lock. After a few seconds of useless twitching, they fell out of my fingers altogether and clattered onto the pavement. Biting back a curse, I bent down but before I could pick up the key ring a pale hand appeared beside my own and deftly retrieved it.

\"Jesus!\" I exclaimed, jumping back and staring up into his face.

\"No, I believe you used to refer to me as \'Magus\',\" he corrected, with his usual supercilious air as he reached out to brush a stray hair away from my forehead.

\"Look I don\'t want any trouble-\" I began, backing away and finding that I was caught between him and my car at the moment.

\"Neither do I,\" he assured me, tossing the key ring gently in his palm. \"I just thought I would stop and say hello to an old friend.\"

He appeared to place an unusual emphasis upon the word \'old\' and I found myself glancing at my reflection in the car window. Okay, so it had been twenty years and I was no longer on the good side of forty, but I didn\'t exactly feel old either. I opened my mouth to say something and then realized that there was the hint of a smile playing around his lips. I think I was being teased.

I swallowed down my reply and forced myself to smile back. \"You might as well know that I no longer do that for a living,\" I said.

He ran his eyes down my body and when they returned to my face I could see a hint of doubt in them. \"I see,\" he replied.

We were silent for several seconds.

\"Were you able to return the jacket?\" he asked, suddenly.

\"What?\" I asked, surprised at the question.

\"Were you able-\"

\"Yes, yes,\" I answered hastily. \"Right away, no problem.\" Well, actually that wasn\'t true. Originally the old biddy of a saleslady had insisted they only did exchanges or gave store credit. But I had ended up crying and tearfully informing the manager that I had bought the jacket as a birthday gift for my boyfriend, only to return to our flat and catch him cheating on me with my best friend. Hell, if you\'re going to lie, you might as well make it good, right? At any rate, they ended up feeling sorry for me and I left the store minus the jacket but with a large wad of cash to show for it.

\"Good,\" he answered. \"I did hope that it would make up for the-\"

He paused for a moment before continuing, reaching up to brush his thumb gently against my chin.

\"-inconvenience you suffered that evening?\", he finished, as his hand dropped back down to his side.

\"Well that\'s one word for what you did to me that night-and for thirty lousy pounds!\" I sputtered, even as I fought done the wildly irrational thought that I was longing for him to touch me again.

He shrugged his shoulders. \"And the price of the jacket.\"

\"Do you think that made up for it?\" I asked, trying my best to stir my anger up again.

He shrugged again. \"You seemed to have a bit of revenge yourself before I left,\" he replied, looking down pointedly at his wrists.

\"Just a bit,\" I allowed.

\"Well, I was very young then,\" he said, his voice tinged with both remorse and amusement as he tilted his head to the side and regarded me thoughtfully. \"And I have regretted some of my actions that evening,\" he added quietly.

\"Some of your actions?\"

He smiled again. \"I would be lying if I said I regretted everything that happened that night.\"

\"Apology accepted,\" I said, holding out my hand for the keys.

He shook his head and bent down, fitting the key into the lock and then pulling the door open for me. I stepped gingerly around him and then hesitated, standing with the door between us. I was suddenly remembering the feel of his hands and mouth upon me that night and as I stared up into his face I was sure he was reliving the memories as well.

I held out my hand once more and this time he dropped the keys to into my open palm. I felt a vague disappointment that he had not allowed to his fingers to brush against mine as he returned the key chain to me.

\"Would you like to go somewhere and have a drink?\" I asked, looking back up at him while my fingers turned around the key and felt the warmth of his body slowly fade from the metal.

His dark eyes flickered over me again. \"I would,\" he said. \"But,\" he added, his fingers dancing lightly upon the frame of the car door, \"I fear it would be too great of a temptation.\"

I nodded and got into the car. He slammed the door shut and stepped back as I turned the ignition. As I reached the entryway of the alley, I glanced back in the rear view mirror.

Somehow I was not surprised to see that he had already disappeared.