Not as Described by Tour Books

Disclaimer: Except for OC's, the characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling and her assigns.

Instead of traveling to Paris, the Snapes Apparated to a port city where Katherine still owned a flat. Severus was quite impressed by just how dodgy the neighborhood was and yet how comfortably Katherine had arranged everything. As they waited for the Evening Prophet, Severus looked through the apartment, occasionally chuckling to himself.

"What's so amusing?" she asked suspiciously.

"I finally get to go through your things. It took a house-elf several minutes to re-sort my underthings, you know."

"That was Tonks." She smiled sadly. "She had so much fun that morning."

"I should have known," he replied, "although it was fun to imagine you wrist deep in my delicates all last winter."

"Poor baby," she drawled. She moved close to him and slid a knowing hand someplace that caught his attention. "I can explore your delicates now, if you like."

"That's a promising offer," he said, "but I see two owls coming." He nodded to the window over the dining area.

The owls brought the evening paper and a note. They were not disappointed by the paper. "Look," said Severus, holding it up. A headline said Private Malfoy Car Detatches from Train, Falls From Bridge. There were several pictures of the two of them with Lucius and Narcissa, there was one of them getting on the train, and finally there was one of the Malfoys waving as the train left the station.

There were also pictures of the train car after it fell from the bridge. It was twisted, and in the rubble Katherine could make out her cosmetics bag. She shuddered. Then she saw Severus's suitcase and shuddered again.

"But, Severus, whoever did that tried to kill you, too."

"Actually not," he answered, showing her the note he had received.

Dear Professor,

D

"Who's D?" she asked.

"Draco. He was on board, wearing one of my robes and using Polyjuice."

She was shocked. "But he might have..."

"He was perfectly safe. There was a Portkey in case of an incident that he couldn't escape."

"Did his mother approve of this?" Her voice was a whispered shriek.

"I'm pretty sure she will now," he answered. Seeing that he was about to be scolded, he pointed to the story and the pictures of what looked like Severus, speaking to authorities in Calais. "Let's read about it."

The Malfoy family railroad car mysteriously rolled off the train between London and Calais this afternoon. The car was being borrowed by their good friends, Professor and Mrs. Snape, who were traveling to France and Italy. The accident happened shortly after Professor Snape had left his wife napping on the car.

Professor Snape was visibly distraught after the accident and promised retribution if the tragedy was the result of foul play. "My dear Katherine will be avenged," he was heard to vow...

"That's sweet. He's barely met me," she said. "What happens next?"

"I'm leaving him and his father to decide what to do next. There might be inquiries at the Ministry and that sort of thing."

Katherine had stopped listening and refolded the paper. A different story had attracted her attention.

Friends of the Weatherfield family will no doubt congratulate them on the marriage of their daughter Audrey to Percival Weasley. The nuptials were celebrated just this morning after an engagement of just three days. Both families have indicated that the pair simply fell madly in love.

Witnesses say that Gustav maintains that potions must have been involved. However, the pair seemed quite taken with each other and begged to be married. Since the damage appeared to have been done, a wedding was hastily put together...

"Do you know anything about this?" Katherine asked her husband.

"I believe I shall invoke my right against self-incrimination."

"Severus..."

"I had nothing to do with bringing them together at the Ministry."

"I take that to mean that you knew it would happen... and by any chance, is this related to the afternoon you spent in your potions laboratory last week?"

He folded his arms. "Didn't you suggest that the pair be introduced? Do you think they really needed any potions?"

"Not for a normal-length courtship, but this one was sped along..."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"I should have known better than to introduce you to Uncle Sonny. Two Slytherins together will of course engage in male bonding by carrying out some scheme."

"Hm," he said, closing the subject. "I have a question or two of my own. Suppose you explain the significance of that?" He pointed at a small table in her hallway.

"Oh," she said with a blush. "I stayed here right before that last battle, you know, and I had gathered a few things. It was good to have items around to remind me of you."

"You couldn't remember me without those items?"

"Of course I could, but it was good to have things to hold and look at."

He smiled indulgently. "So what are all these pieces of memorabilia?"

She touched each one reverently. "Well, this is the lipstick I wore on the day we searched your house."

"My favorite color ever since. I recognize the keychain, but what about the cork?"

"It's from the bottle of wine we shared that night at Hogwarts."

"Ah, I recall. How did you come by that picture of me?" It was a snapshot of an eleven-year-old boy who looked half-frightened and half-fierce.

"It's your Hogwarts entrance photo. I filched it from your file at the Ministry."

"I never saw this issue of the Prophet." It showed them working their way up the grand staircase at Hogwarts, clasped together as closely as clothed people could be. When he picked up the newspaper, he found something underneath it. "I believe I recognize this shirt stud. I had Filch tear the Headmaster's quarters apart, looking for it."

"Any one of the portraits should have been able to tell you where to look."

"They were working against me when it came to you." He smirked. "I can guess where the Snitch box came from, but what is the value of the glass bottle?"

"You transformed it into the Portkey that carried us to Corsica."

"I wonder if I should be disturbed, that you created almost a shrine. I suppose it's typical of a Hufflepuff, if she's in fifth year."

"I needed it during that last month. I was so worried about you, and I missed you so much."

He kissed her, and they made their way to the bedroom. "Please tell me that's not the bed you used with your first husband."

She shook her head. "The entire flat has been redone years ago. That bed was Transfigured."

"Indeed?"

She pointed out a window. "Do you see that tree in the courtyard?"

He looked to see an elm tree that was thriving. "That's good work."

She shrugged casually. "The hard part was getting it through the window at three in the morning."

"So is the current bed a transfigured tree?"

"Why don't we find out?" she asked, moving her hips toward his and being stopped by the bump in between.

He chuckled and started to undress her as they sat upon the bed.

A while later, they were lying together and softly kissing. Severus was idly touching his wife's tummy, occasionally prodding and hoping for more motion from the baby. Katherine giggled and poked him back, and they both laughed.

Suddenly, a bull-shaped Patronus appeared before them. "They know about your apartment. Use the Portkey now."

Severus was out of the bed before Sonny's voice faded. He found Katherine's clothes and tossed them to her. "We have perhaps 30 seconds. Dress quickly."

There was just time to throw their clothes on and grab their bags. The last sound they heard as the Portkey activated was a banging on the door of the apartment. A moment later they were standing under a bridge in Paris.

"How did they do that?"

"Do what?"

"How did they find out about my apartment? It was in my records, but only in the ones buried in the Ministry archives."

"Have you met Gustav's new son-in-law?"

"Would Percy Weasley have put us in danger like that?"

"It's likely he wasn't told why he was looking. Have you ever met him? Once he realizes he has someone to impress, he will do anything that person wants. He's the consummate sycophant."

She conceded the point, because a new one occurred to her. "All right, that's how they found us, but why were they looking? How did they know we both got off the train?"

He thought for a moment. "The steward...they will have questioned the steward, who would have told them he never saw you on board the train."

"How did we miss that?"

"Lucius paid him off; obviously someone else paid him more."

They looked at each other in concern. Suddenly even Paris didn't seem particularly safe. They looked out from under the shadow of their bridge at a world that was suddenly frightening. There was only one place safe enough for them, now. They couldn't go to the island just yet, there was too much else to do, first.

They stood and waited. Within half an hour the twilight changed to full dark, and they decided they could risk walking on the streets. The Snapes walked up to the street level and went down an alleyway. There was a small establishment where Katherine had often spent a night or two in the past. The concierge greeted her and handed her a key to a fifth-floor room and a note.

The Snapes looked at each other. They took the stairs to the second floor and read the note in a broom closet.

Katherine,

Charles.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"You know him. Isn't it a little odd that he would send a note here, as if he expected you to come to Paris?"

"I don't want to believe that he's behind this."

"I don't think he is."

"Make up your mind, Severus!" Katherine was tired and worried

"This is dated before the rail accident. He didn't know about that. He's not behind this, Katherine, but he is involved. Someone told him you would be in France and asked him where you would stay."

"He's the back up plan, you mean." At her husband's nod, she added, "We can't stay here, then." She said it sadly, but she knew it was true.

"No, we can't. How about the Ritz?"

She looked up at him through her lashes. "Who's paying?"

He made a show of sighing. "I'll pay, Mrs. Snape, but you'll have to make it worth my while."

"We're in the wrong neighborhood for that sort of arrangement."

He chuckled as she thought. "We had reservations at the Ritz. Narcissa told everyone about them. Let's go to the George Cinq, instead."

"You just like the spa there better."

"It is better, and more private as well."

"Will it be safe?"

"It's a bit off the beaten track for either of us, and although we've each used it, it's not where either of us usually goes."

He grasped her hand and Apparated to a quiet corner near the Avenue des Champs-Elysee. It was a short walk to the hotel. Twenty minutes later, Mr. and Mrs. Snape were being shown to a suite that looked on the city toward the river. Severus tipped the attendant and closed the door.

As soon as the young man's footsteps faded, the wizard pulled out his wand and went to work. He cast every protective spell he could remember, a process which took several minutes, and then realized that he would need to remove several of them so that Muggles could come to deliver the room service Katherine had ordered.

When the tray arrived from the kitchen, Severus reset his spells and finally relaxed enough to walk to the bedroom. Katherine lay across the bed, her robe and dress on the floor. It looked as though she had undressed to her slip and was suddenly overcome by weariness. He climbed onto the bed behind her and put an arm around her middle.

"Aren't you hungry?"

There was a sigh as she woke from her doze. "Mmphf, starving."

"The food is here."

"Could you eat it for me and then tell me about it? I'm too tired to chew, or swallow, or sit up, or really do anything."

"Well then, shall I join you?"

"That would be," there was a pause for a huge yawn, "lovely. You could rub my back."

"It's such a lovely back."

"Hmph. It's an overlarge back and you know it. You're sweet to play along, though."

After a short but vigorous rub, Severus roused his wife enough to take a bath. He sat beside her and fed her from the tray until she looked up at him and observed, "You've had an active day, too, you know." She pulled on his arm until he tipped into the fortunately enormous bath with her.

A/N: Thank you for reading and reviewing! I appreciate that you have kept with this. Thank you to Trickie Woo for beta reading!