Owls and Musings

Chapter 6

The week went quicker than either of them would have liked. Severus soon discovered that the lessons were torture to his trained ears. Merlin, was I that bad at that age? He took to tramping into the woods with a good book and a few apples in his cardigan pockets. He had discovered a delightful glen further in and had conjured a chair and table to rest in and read. Some days he wandered the woods searching for potions ingredients. These woods were full of many ingredients that he preferred to use as fresh as he could get them. Esme had let him clean up an old workroom of her fathers in the cellar to prepare them. Oddly enough, the room looked as if it had been a potions lab at one time. Some evenings, they worked together setting up potions experiments using her research from the previous year. While her potions expertise was not up to his level, she was an adequate lab assistant and he found that he enjoyed the camaraderie they were developing together.

Saturday was another matter entirely. He decided to stay and listen to the quartet's practice. He ensconced himself in one of Esme's wing-backed chairs near the fireplace, that he had appropriated as his favourite during the week and pretended to be interested in a muggle history book so as not to distract them. The text was atrociously wrong concerning several aspects of the timeline in question, and he scoffed silently to himself as he mentally inserted the wizard version of the events. But his mind was only half paying attention to the text.

In truth, he was fascinated by how Esme led the group of musicians. Primarily they played Medieval and Renaissance music, and all were accomplished musicians on more than one instrument; Esme herself could play - by her count - eight different instruments as well as having a superb soprano voice. The others were equally as versatile. It made for a delightful and interesting session as he listened to them taking the music apart and putting it back together with new nuances and instrumentations. It taught him how little he really knew about the world of music.

He studied the group as they practiced. Esme acted the leader, giving the upbeats and collecting their attention to keep them together. She was very subtle; she would gather their eyes to her and with a slight intake of breath and jerk of her head, she could start them off precisely. Dave was her second in command. A wavy haired gentleman, his long fingers danced across any instrument he picked up. He had a quick grin that lit up his face, and was a constant jokester. But when he stepped into the music, he was a professional and played with such passion, Severus could understand why Esme had been taken in with this musician. His partner, Maddie, was a tiny thing, but bright and cheerful and played drums and woodwinds as if they were just an extension of her natural self. Maeve was a pretty redhead with a beautiful alto voice that complimented well with Esme's. She could also play just about any stringed instrument you put into her hand.

Traditionally, Esme cooked supper afterwards and this night was no different. Normally she was an indifferent cook, he had discovered, tending to cook plain but hearty fare; but she tended to put her best foot forward with more people around. He supposed that when she was just cooking for herself, she truly did not care as long as it was edible and provided nourishment, and when she was on the road for her job she tended to eat out most times and did not frequent the better dining establishments; a ministry employee's expense account did not cover much.

He offered to help but she shooed him away with a whispered "You are a guest, too. This is my pleasure. If you could go into the cellar though and choose a good wine to go with the pasta; I am hopeless when it comes to matching wine to food."

"White or red sauce?"

"Never knew it mattered!" she said chuckling at his exasperated look. "Ahhh, red - tomato."

He nodded and headed to the cellar. Her father had set in a large store of muggle and wizard varieties - which she rarely touched. He decided he was going to have to educate her palate in the future. He found a Chianti Classico from a good year and headed back up the stairs.

When he returned the kitchen table was set and the Lasagna was coming out of the oven. A salad had materialised from the refrigerator.

Severus kept quiet listening to the conversation ebb and flow around him only speaking when a question was directed at him. Mostly about what he did, ("Chemistry Teacher") how he knew Esme, ("From school") and was he enjoying his holiday, ("Quite").

The evening soon wrapped up though and they were seeing the group to the door.

As Esme cleared the kitchen and set her scouring pad to work, Severus poured the last of the wine into their glasses and taking her hand, led her to the divan in the parlor. She curled up in one corner sipping her wine blissfully.

"What did you think of the afternoon?" she finally asked him.

"Very impressive. How did you meet them?"

"Oh, here and there. Mostly while walking through Oxford Commons one afternoon. They were playing outside - well, Dave and Maddie were. He was playing the most divine Celtic fiddle music I had heard in ages. Maddie was playing the boran to keep the beat going. I was hooked from the start - especially after they started playing something that I knew the lyrics for and started singing along! We picked up Maeve a little later. Every summer we get together here on Saturdays and at the end of the summer we give a little recital in London. You ought to come," she insisted.

"I believe I will if I can get away."

He slowly reached for the hand she had laid across the back of the sofa and gently rubbed his thumb across the back of it before entwining his fingers with hers. Again that electric spark passed between them and he saw the heat rise in her face. He placed his glass on the table in front of them and picking the glass out of her hand, repeated the manoeuvre. Her knees slowly came down as she leaned towards him.

"Severus..." she murmured, eyes bright with anticipation.

"Shhhh..." He placed a finger on her lips. Removing her glasses, he gathered her to him, lightly kissing her. Gods, she tasted good! The sweet taste of the wine was on her lips and he drank her in, his hands coming up to cradle her face. Hers were sliding over his shoulders and around his neck and he felt one hand tangling itself in his hair as he deepened his kiss, teasing her mouth open with his tongue. He groaned deep in his throat as her hands unbuttoned his shirt and found their way across his chest, her embrace melting into him.

He started dropping kisses down along her neck and shoulders as his fingers fumbled with her blouse. He pulled back a moment and caught her gaze with his.

"Am I going too fast?" he asked her softly.

"No," she groaned. She caught his hand and led him to her bedroom, a trail of clothes following them. Severus laughed in sheer joy.

***

The next morning he found her curled up against him, one hand draped around his chest. It was the best sleep he had had in years.

The following week was essentially the same as the first with the added benefit of lovemaking in the evenings. Several afternoons were spent walking along the moor together hand in hand or exploring the woods, while some evenings they indulged in duets - exploring the music and themselves, together.

One afternoon, they were sitting in the garden on an old steamer lounge that Esme had expanded to fit two. Once again, Severus was reading an old potions book he had found in her upstairs library.

"Severus, what is so fascinating in my potions books?" she mock chided, a hint of a smile playing on her lips.

"Just that you have several volumes I've never seen." He placed a finger between the pages and looked down at her. "I've been meaning to ask you that. Why do you have so many potions books and why is there an old potions lab in your cellar? You don't really study potions outside of what is needed for your research, do you?"

"No, I don't," she admitted. "They were my father's. About half of my library was handed down to me from my parents and theirs to them. I never told you about my parents?"

"I don't believe so. I just know that Minerva is your only relative."

"Well, she is on the McGonagall side. The short and sweet of it is this: my father was a potions master, one of Slughorn's original apprentices. After Hogwarts, Slughorn got him into University of Edinburgh to study Muggle Chemistry and he received his PhD in Analytical Chemistry when he was twenty-three. He was a brilliant man, a bona-fide genius. He worked for the ministry in their Potions department dreaming up new potions and experimenting. In my third year, You-Know-Who had him and my mother kidnapped to force them to work for Him and to reveal secrets of my father's work for the Ministry. They committed suicide instead."

She looked off towards the village. The ache of retelling the story was old and it no longer caused her to cry when she did recite the tale. She could feel Severus' arms come around her waist to hug her close in sympathy. "So, Aunt Minerva has raised me since I was thirteen."

"I'm sorry, it must have been hard for you. I'm surprised you were willing to talk to me last July," he marvelled.

She looked up at him quickly, a steely glint in her eye. She definitely reminded him of McGonagall, at times. "You didn't kill them, I lay that blame solely at the feet of that madman. I judge a person by how they treat me, Severus, not by their past deeds. I know you committed atrocities in the past, and I know from hints in your letters and what Albus spoke about at your trial, that you still have to do things to stay in the good graces of Malfoy and his thugs. But Dumbledore - whom I love like an Uncle - vouched for you. I trust him implicitly and that vouchsafe was good enough for me. Last July, you didn't condescend to me - you treated me as an equal, a colleague of sorts. Trust me when I tell you, I don't get that at the Ministry so it was quite refreshing coming from you."

Her look softened as she snuggled deeper into his arms. "Da would have liked you, I think," she murmured.

"I think I would have liked him, too," he said softly. "You seemed to indicate there are relatives alive on your father's side of the family?"

"Aye, cousins several times removed. I even have one that works for the American Navy - I believe - on a nuclear aircraft carrier; the Enterprise. He is the chief engineer."

"Is he a squib?"

"Och, no. He just likes nuclear engines. He loves working with them, calls them his babies. He reminds me of a wizard in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, Arthur Weasley. He just loves playing around with muggle things. But whereas Arthur has no clue as to what the objects are or how they work, Cousin Monty is quite conversant. He has to be, to work in the Navy. He has a whole houseful of kids and most of them are engineer-bent, just like him. He had me transfigure a wand of his into some sort of tool he uses everyday so he could apply magic to the engines when no-one is looking."

Severus just shook his head in incredulity as Esme giggled at the look on his face. He finally reopened his book and started back where he had left off.

Saturday found Dave and Maddie sick with the flu so the rehearsal was cancelled. It was just as well since a summer storm blew up and they spent the afternoon curled up on the divan, reading companionably and listening to the storm raging outside.

Their last night together was bittersweet in its lovemaking and Severus found himself wishing he could stay a lot longer, but knowing he couldn't.

On his last morning, she cooked breakfast and helped him find all his belongings that had been scattered around the cottage over the last two weeks. He changed back into his black frock and took his bags into the kitchen, setting them on the table. Coming up behind her, he gently enfolded her in his arms, kissing the top of her head as she leaned back into his embrace.

"You'll think about August?"

"I'll try, Esme. I can't guarantee anything so don't be upset with me if I'm unable to get away," he gentled chided her.

"I won't. I'll owl you the address, later, though - just in case."

He raised his eyebrows at her. She took the hint.

"No, I won't come myself. I'll send Kyle." Kyle was her post owl.

He nodded at her and after kissing her one last delicious time, he grabbed his cases and walked outside to the apparition point and was soon gone.

As it happened, he was able to go to the recital. When he had returned to Hogwarts, the headmaster had insisted upon hearing about his holiday and Severus had mentioned the possibility of the recital.

"Of course you should go," Dumbledore said. "As much as she supports you, you need to do the same for her, my boy. It is part of that trust between people who are as close as the two of you are becoming," he said as he waved away Severus' protestations. "I'd be an old fool if I didn't recognise the symptoms, son. You're falling in love."

Severus couldn't deny it.

Thus it was a warm August night that Professor Snape found himself in a muggle casual suit again, walking down a London street to the recital hall. Many people were already there and more were coming in behind him. He was proud of the turnout for Esmerelda's sake. It was a testament to her group's capabilities and popularity. This was the only concert they gave each year and he could tell by the buzz around him that it was well anticipated.

He handed the ticket she had owled him to the doorman and was sent down the aisle to the front row. As he sat he noticed that the stage dressing (more like a platform, than a full-out stage) consisted of four chairs and racks of instruments around them. Oriental carpets were scattered on the platform adding color and ambience.

At eight o'clock the house lights dimmed and the quartet came on stage and took their places. The concert was a rousing success. Everyone enjoyed the switching of instruments and the variety of the music. They played everything from traditional chamber music to Celtic reels and several new pieces written by Dave, the resident composer.

Severus made his way backstage afterwards to congratulate Esme and her friends. He was greeted warmheartedly by the rest of the quartet who remembered him. He eventually found Esme near a table laden with food and drinks and opened a water for her.

"Thanks!" she said after taking a long swig. "Those lights dry me out every year. Did you like it?"

"It was superb. I even liked Dave's compositions," he said in a deadpan voice.

She laughed good-naturedly and came to him for a quick hug and kiss. "Can you stay long enough to grab a bite to eat after this shindig is over? Dave and Maddie collect my instruments for me after the concert to store them. I get them back in June. This way I don't have to pack up."

"Of course."

"Good. This is winding down, just let me get my wrap and we can leave!"

She hurried through the crowd and was soon back carrying her wrap and her purse. Severus helped place the wrap around her shoulders, grabbing a quick nibble below her ear as he did so, and they left for the cool night air.