The Second Suspect

All canon characters belong to JKR.

Thank you as always to June for all of her help and suggestions.

The Second Suspect

Two days after his incident with Ron, Severus found himself with yet another love note in his hands. This one had come to him in the form of Whispering Wings, a magical letter that was the opposite in volume of a Howler. He had been walking back from Hogsmeade, his arms full of potions supplies for his private lab, when he was suddenly accosted by a pair of reddish orange and golden wings that stopped in front of him. As they fluttered, he heard the sweetest voice whispering the most wonderful words.

Severus, my love,

Your Secret Love

As with the previous note, he felt the soft caress of invisible lips upon his own; and this time a pair of invisible arms also wrapped themselves around him. The note disappeared on its own after its message and actions were received. Severus looked around him to make sure there was no one watching. He noticed he'd dropped a few packages on the ground, no doubt when he was being hugged. As he picked up his packages, Severus tried to figure out if he had ever heard the voice used in the Whispering Wings. But, he then remembered that one of the reasons they were used was for the sender to disguise his or her identity from the receiver. The voice was charmed to be non-recognizable. That made this particular way of communication easily used by secret lovers and often spies.

Severus sighed deeply as he made his way back to Hogwarts. After receiving the first note, he thought that it was perhaps just a joke. Now, he knew that whomever was sending these notes to him was serious, because a Whispering Wings note could only hide the sender's voice – not their emotions.

Love was something he never thought would come into his life. As a youth, he did love a woman once, but she was in love with another man. While his love for Narcissa Black soon waned, he wondered what his life would have been like if she had chosen him instead of Lucius. Severus couldn't blame her for falling for his friend; Lucius was an attractive and outgoing young man, much the same as the man he grew into. Severus wondered if he would have had children, or if he would still have become a Death Eater. Then again, Lucius became one, so that argument didn't hold much water. He laughed to himself, thinking that no doubt his secret love was most probably some lovesick teenage girl. Deciding to put all thoughts of love out of his head, he continued his walk, wanting to get back to Hogwarts so that he would have enough time to put his ingredients away and read for a few hours before dinner.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Back at the school, Neville was putting the finishing touches on a small bouquet of roses he was taking to his own secret love. He'd mustered enough courage to ask Madam Rosmerta to have tea with him that coming Saturday. Yes, she was older than him, but age didn't matter when one was in love. He also wanted to give her a present other than the roses he had grown, just for her. He decided the other day that a ring would be a wonderful gift for Rosmerta. Over the years, he'd noticed Hermione wearing an onyx ring on special occasions, although lately she'd been wearing it regularly; Neville thought the design of the ring was delicate, and he knew it would look lovely on Rosmerta's hand. He wanted to take it to Seamus Finnegan, who now had a small jewelry shop in Hogsmeade. Seamus could reproduce the ring with a different stone, as Neville remembered Rosmerta saying something about goldstone being her favorite; he thought it would be the perfect way to show her how much he cared for her.

Not wanting to lose Hermione's ring, Neville placed it on his pinky and took the small bouquet, then made his way out to the gates of the school. As he walked towards the gates, he noticed Professor Snape coming towards him with several packages. Neville steadied himself and tried not to be nervous. He wondered if he would ever be able to approach the man without looking like a bowl of jelly during an earthquake.

Severus drew nearer to the school and saw Neville coming towards him. His eyes grew wide as he noticed that Neville was holding what looked like a small bouquet of roses. As Neville got closer, Severus noticed a large onyx ring on the intern's finger, and he froze.

'Merlin's hairy arsehole, not Longbottom,' he thought, hoping to be struck down dead before he could hear Neville's words of devotion.

Both men stopped and eyed each other. Neither spoke for several very long moments.

"G...good afternoon, sir," Neville said nervously. He noticed Severus looking at his bouquet and quickly ducked it behind him.

"Mr. Longbottom," Severus said sharply. He looked at the ring on the intern's pinky finger and arched his brow. "That's an attractive ring. Is that an onyx?"

Neville's eyes became round as saucers. He slowly looked down at his own hand, and then looked up at Severus.

"Uh...I...I think it's, ah...yes. Onyx, sir."

"Interesting. I do not believe I ever noticed you wearing it when you were here at Hogwarts," stated Severus, hoping to get some kind of information from the young quivering man in front of him.

"Well, it's not mine." Neville stopped. 'Oh, no. I can't tell him it belongs to Hermione. She'll kill me,' he thought.

Severus breathed a sigh of relief. If the ring wasn't his, then that meant the roses weren't for him either; thus, Neville wasn't his secret love. It was all Severus could do to keep himself from jumping for joy.

"And whose. . . " Severus was stopped short by Neville's sudden outburst.

"I found it!" shouted Neville. "I'm sorry, I...I found it, sir. I was walking out of the castle and um...I found it on the ground."

Severus wondered if that was the same ring that belonged to his "secret love." It was too much of a coincidence.

"Mr. Longbottom, since you seem to be on your way out of the grounds, perhaps I can do you the favor of taking it to the Headmaster. I'm sure that whomever lost it will be looking for it. And since lost items usually find their way to the Headmaster's office, the ring's true owner will surely go there."

Neville felt the blood drain from his face. Snape was asking for the ring, for Hermione's ring. She would have a fit if she knew Snape had it. But there was no way he could refuse to hand the ring over to his ex-professor without good reason. Neville silently weighed the scales of his dilemma. Would he rather face an angry Hermione, or an angry Professor Snape? Well, that was easy. He pulled off the ring and handed it to Snape, and decided to make a hasty retreat.

"There you are, Professor; I'll just be going. Good luck finding the owner." Neville practically ran towards the gates, with the roses still in his hands. He would just ask Seamus to design something else for Madam Rosmerta.

Severus smiled as he held the ring in his hands. He would keep it in his pocket until he decided what he wanted to do about his situation. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know who this secret love of his was, especially since he apparently already knew the person and ... from what the Whispering Wings said ... he wasn't overly fond of them either.

"Great," he rolled his eyes and shook his head, "someone I can't stand is in love with me. Oh, how the gods do smile down at me." He mumbled and shook his head, "Piss on me is more like it." He then continued on his way back to the castle.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

And so Severus has yet another close call. I hope you ejoyed this chapter. Thank you all for reading this story so far.

Whispering Wings is something I came up with. I figured, there would have to be something in the wizarding world that was like a Howler, but not as loud.