The Web Wizard

Chapter 13

Tara watched as Snape tumbled out in front of her, and she tumbled out and tried not to--but landed right on top of him. They were in her quarters. Now this was an interesting situation, he thought to himself.

For a moment, Tara felt dizzy and couldn't move. "We have got to stop running into each other like this," he said, unable to resist the opportunity. Annoyed, Tara rolled off of him. That wasn't a good way to have come home! She began feeling waves of nausea and fatigue. Severus sat up and reached into his pocket for a small bottle of potion.

"I have something for you to try," he told her, "it might keep you from having to sleep for days following floo powder use," he told her and handed it to her. He had been working on it all week, whenever he got a chance.

"Just drink it all down," he told her.

"Okay." She pulled the stopper out, then drank it down like a shot of tequila. It made her cough a little bit, and it burned her throat. "Man, I need a chaser," she croaked, "got any salt and a lemon?" but strangely, the waves of fatigue were lessening and the queasiness stopped. She had a little bit of water, and her throat stopped burning.

"Wow. I think it worked," she said.

"We'll know within the hour," he told her, pleased that his hours of research and careful experimenting had paid off. "Now why do you need salt and a lemon--" he began.

"It's a muggle thing when you take a shot of tequila. Never mind."

She stood up and threw her bags on her bed, and unzipped one. She made a pile of laundry and put the rest of her things away, hoping he would get the hint and leave.

"I need to stay with you to make sure it doesn't have any nasty side effects," he told her, seeming to read her mind again.

"Stay with me?" she said, her expression blank.

"Yes, just observe you for a while."

"Okay. Beats dying or turning into a sponge or something." She continued unpacking, and then all of a sudden, she sat down on the bed, turning to Snape and said, "you know what--I'm real slee--"she didn't finish the word. She fell back, and was snoring softly. "Well so much for my potion," Snape muttered. It had worked for about 15 minutes, but that was all. He put her bags on the floor and then lifted her up and slid her in between the covers. He looked at her peaceful sleeping form, then leaned down and caressed her face, then drew back his hand as if it were on fire. He turned out the lights and left her there, sleeping.

The next morning, he checked on her. He had to know that nothing had gone wrong, and sure enough, he opened her door gently, and she was still sleeping, her cats on her, and she seemed fine, so he headed down for breakfast.

"How did Tara do with her journey home?" Albus asked, joining Severus in the hallway.

"She's fine, but my potion didn't work. It worked for 15 minutes, then she just fell asleep right in the middle of telling me she was sleepy. I checked her just now, she's fine."

"Good. Well you tried."

"I guess I didn't make it potent enough. I didn't want to take any chances."

They entered the hall and sat at their places at the great table. The students were filtering in, and then Tara was walking in.

"Maybe it did work," Severus said under his breath. She came and sat and greeted Madame Hooch. "How come you didn't come get me?" she asked. "Severus insisted on getting you himself. He was trying his new potion so maybe you wouldn't sleep for days. It seemed to work!"

"What day is it?"

"It's Saturday."

"Then it did work. I mean, I woke up in my bed, and the last thing I remember last night was sitting down and telling him that I was sleepy and that's all I remember."

"How do you feel now?"

"Like usual. Good. I don't have to sleep away my entire weekend. I hate that; it's such a waste!"

Tara did feel great, very refreshed, and was glad she had gone home for a few days, but very glad to be back. But she was still feeling sad. She avoided Snape whenever she could but it was difficult, and part of her yearned for him.

That night she went down to the storage room to play the piano. She hadn't been there in weeks. She had brought matches from her mom's house so she could light the candles. She had been so tempted to start smoking again, but the potion for that seemed to be working to quell her cravings. She wanted to start again out of rebellion but then realized no, this was much better, and she did feel much better without it.

She sat down at the piano, and warmed up, then started playing a song by ear. It wasn't easy to play on the piano, but she sort of made up her own arrangement and sang.

...well I've been afraid of changing since I built my life around you.... But time makes you bolder even children get older and I'm getting older too... Oh take my love - take it down Climb a mountain and turn around If you see my reflection in the snow covered hill... then the landslide will bring it down If you see my reflection in the snow covered hill...then the landslide will bring it down.... Oh the landslide will bring you down...

Landslide. The ultimate broken heart song. Oh, but Tara knew lots of other songs. She had once been the lead singer in a band, back after her divorce. She had a lot of fun with it, and knew lots of songs. She didn't quite have the range she used to; she hadn't practiced singing in a while, so when she played and sang "Blue Bayou," she didn't know if she'd be able to reach the last note, which was an e one octave above a middle C. But to her surprise she did. She hoped that Hagrid's three headed dog didn't start howling or anything...

"That was incredible." Tara screamed and turned around. Severus Snape was standing there. She wondered how long he had been there.

"Where did you come from?" she asked. "My mother," he replied sarcastically. Oh great. He was picking up her wisecracks. She tried to imagine what Snape's mother--oh never mind, she told herself. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"You never do but you always seem to accomplish just that. I haven't screamed so many times in as many months!"

Severus thought of a reply with certain situational undertones but stopped himself. "You're blushing," he commented instead.

"Well, I'm not used to anyone hearing me try to sing. I was just sitting here thinking that I hope I don't disturb that three headed dog of Hagrid's. I'd hate to hear them howling."

"I didn't know you could sing. What don't you do well?" he asked her.

"I don't dance! You can attest to that. And I wouldn't know how to make a potion if I tried or where to get ingredients or what would happen if I mixed asphodel and wormwood together."

This surprised Severus. "How did you know that you might mix those two together?" he asked.

"I don't know...wait...um, you would get a sleeping potion so potent...wait it's coming to me...Draught of the Living Death. Where did that come from?"

"Have you been eavesdropping in my classes? Did you hook up a web cam and bug my dungeon?" Tara's mouth dropped open, and her eyes flashed with anger.

"Of course not! What do you think I am - some sort of criminal?"

"I know that you would have no knowledge of what you just said without attending one of my classes or reading up on this, and I'm sure it is of little interest to you to spend time reading up on it."

Tara didn't know what to say. He had managed to piss her off again. At the same time, she was totally bewildered how she knew that. She seemed to almost see the words in front of her.

"I don't know how I knew that, honestly. You must believe me. Go ahead and search your dungeon for a bug - that would be some trick for a mere muggle - to hide a camera in stone walls." This was true, and she was making a good point.

"I'm sorry I jumped to that conclusion, you are correct. But how did you know?"

"I don't know. It was if I was thinking about stuff you know about and suddenly, some words jumped into my mind, and a whole train of thought...it was just plain weird!"

Snape wondered if the potion he had given her to fix her problems with floo powder had opened up her mind and caused her to be a bit psychic.

"Can you do it again?" he asked. She tried, but nothing. She just drew a blank, and shook her head.

"Well that is strange. Please let me know if anything of the sort happens again. It could be the potion's lingering effects, but it should be out of your system by now, I should think."

Tara was scared, and Severus could see that she was very frightened, and looked like she might cry. "What if something terrible happens to me from it?"

"That is doubtful. There's nothing toxic to your system in it."

"I hope there isn't a chemical reaction from what is in it!"

"I don't think so. I took the utmost of care."

She sighed, and poured herself some wine.

"Do you want some?" she asked, holding her glass out to him. "I only brought one glass, but I don't have cooties or anything."

"Cooties?"

"Muggle term for germs or something like that."

"Thank you but I'll pass. I came to talk to you about what happened a few weeks ago."

"Oh that." Tara sighed and put her wine glass down. "I'm sorry I made those assumptions about you," she said, "and sorry I called you a moody bastard."

"Well, I accept your apology, but you weren't far off the mark at my being a moody bastard. I know I'm not the friendliest sort, and get in my moods."

"Me too. I know I'm a pain in the butt sometimes--" He looked at her with a look that clearly questioned sometimes? "Hey, I'm not that bad! Okay maybe I am. I enjoy taunting you, Sev. I really do. You Brits have the most marvelous way of expressing yourselves, I just love it."

"My thoughts about you Americans is precisely the same."

"And you have this slow deliberate way of talking, and oh, I just love your accent, and your voice, and--" She stopped. Man she was blurting like a teenager now.

"You're blushing again," he said quietly, "and I have no accent. You do," he said and actually grinned, which was a rare occurrence.

"I can believe it," she said, wanting to shrink and get under the piano and stay there for a few months. Severus sat down on the piano bench beside her, and she was thinking of how she really needed to ask for another chair in there, wanting to scoot over. He brushed her hair from her face and stroked her cheek.

"Do you think we can start over?" he asked, chasing away all of the voices inside of him telling him it was a mistake. He was having serious second thoughts all day and decided no, he had flown off the handle; they both had.

"Do you want to bother with a crazy muggle like me?" she asked, tears in her eyes.

He nodded, and kissed her. Wave after wave of dizziness hit her and he had to keep her from falling off the bench again when they parted. "Do you have a potion for that? I'm going to fall off and hurt myself one of these days!" she exclaimed.

"I'll see what I can do," he said and kissed her again...

The next morning, Tara was filled with joy. She put on one of her favorite romantic songs and was singing along as she got ready. She was all dressed, and went into the last verse with the singer, Basia, at the top of her lungs, using her hairbrush like a microphone...

Time and tide - no one or nothing can stop us now For better for worse this time I'm sure It's gonna last Gonna last forever!

The door opened then, and there he was. Mortified, Tara went to turn off the music and apologized.

"That was very nice," Severus commented.

"Um, thanks. Old song. Came out around '85 or so," she stammered, totally off guard and embarrassed. Taking his arm, they went down to the hall and everyone hushed as they made their entrance.

"Here we go again," he commented.

"Yep. Just smile. That ought to freak em' out."

"What do you mean by that remark?" he asked.

"You know what I mean. You never smile. I have probably seen you smile more than anyone here who have known you for years." She continued to tease him about being a moody bastard, in a lighthearted way that amused him.

"Get over to your chair, Missy!" he said, and smiled at her, quicker than quick.

Madame Hooch nudged her. "Yeah, we made up," Tara told her. "I can see that! I thought he was going to grab your butt!" Tara and M broke into a very girlish fit of giggling until Minerva elbowed them to behave, fighting not to laugh also.

Things were going wonderfully between Severus and Tara, and Christmas was in the air. Tara and Severus spent a great deal of time together, and he was a perfect gentleman when it came to courting her.

One morning at breakfast, the owls came in to drop off mail. One dropped the daily tabloid in front of Tara. She had started subscribing to get a better handle of what was going on in the magical world. She couldn't believe what she saw. "Oh shit..." she muttered. Madame Hooch looked over and saw what she was looking at. A picture of Severus and Tara was right on the front page. They were walking arm in arm in town, and stopped to steal a kiss. Oh NO. The headline read "Hogwarts' Potion Master Courts American Muggle Computer Expert." Tara read the paragraph. It wasn't uncomplimentary towards either of them; it just said that the seemingly heartless insensitive Professor Severus Snape had fallen in love. and could wedding bells be ringing in the near future. "He's never told me that he loves me - oh this is terrible. They are doing what the Media does all over the world; blowing it way out of proportion." From where he was sitting, Severus could see Tara was very upset about something. She glanced up at him, and got out of her seat and went outside, motioning for him to come with her.

"Is there something the matter?" he asked. "Read this!," she said, thrusting the tabloid into his hands. He saw the picture and smirked, then read the article. "This isn't so bad," he said. "It isn't? Sev, they're talking like we're getting married or something! This is going to have the whole school buzzing!"

"We already have that..."

"But now it's in black and white - and motion!" she said, referring to the magic moving photo of them together.

"I don't think it's so bad. It had to come out eventually. It's all right. If anyone has to be annoyed by this, it's me; I'm the one having to keep the students in order in my classes."

"That's true. Oh man, I'm sorry...I'm always trying to make sure we aren't seen..."

"Well I'm not ashamed of how I feel about you."

"Neither am I but are you sure? I'm a muggle, after all."

"I'm sure. This isn't how I wanted to tell you, but since the paper here is a step ahead of me, I'll go ahead and tell you. I love you, Miss Tara Hall." He was telling her right there in the corridor? She got dizzy, and saw little silver spots. She took a deep breath and looked up at him. "I love you too, Sev. I really do."

He held her close and she felt safe and warm, like nothing could ever hurt her again...