Correspondence

The following morning, I woke earlier than usual. Severus was in the other room. He was seated at the small dining table, sorting through a huge pile of parchment. The window was open, and there were a steady stream of owls flying in and dropping more letters in the pile.

"What in the world?"

Severus' eyes cut up towards me. The frustration was apparent in his eyes. "These," he sighed, "are reactions to yesterday's articles."

"Oh, dear, do I dare ask what the reaction is?"

"So far, I've seen seven Howlers, thirty expressions of thanks, four marriage proposals, five job offers and a few pleasant notes from acquaintances. However, I'm most worried about that one." He pointed nervously to an unopened letter to his right.

"And what is that one?"

"It's from Grandmother Prince."

"Oh. Are you going to open it?"

"I was waiting for you."

"Oh. Well, I'm here."

"I can see that." He motioned to the chair next to him. I walked over and gave him a quick kiss before sitting next to him.

He opened the parchment. He read quietly to himself. When he finished, he sighed. The smallest of smiles graced his lips as he handed it to me.

Grandson,

You can imagine how shocked I was to receive your owl on Sunday evening. I had received word earlier in the month that you had been killed, which saddened me greatly. My initial reaction was that your letter was some sort of sick joke. When I received the newspaper yesterday, I realized that the letter was real. One of my neighbors receives The Quibbler, and she brought me the copy with your interview.

It has been many long years since I have seen you, Grandson. Losing Eileen, first to stubbornness, then to illness, was a tremendous blow. Then, when you became an adult, you disappeared as well. I thought my family was lost to me permanently. There are many things I would like to understand, not the least of which is why you never contacted me until now.

But I also want you to understand that you are still my family, and I want to rebuild this family. You have been separated from your birthright, and it is time to make amends. However, that privilege comes with certain responsibilities that we will need to discuss.

Please accept this invitation to come to the estate outside of Dublin this weekend. We have much to talk about, Grandson.

Looking forward,

Lady Evelyn Prince

P.S. I hope you meant it in the interview when you said there was room for you to move forward now. You said that Miss Evans was the only woman you saw back then. I hope that means you are ready for a new love now. You've been alone too long, my boy. Not to mention, you are the last in the line, and you aren't getting any younger.

I chuckled. "She's a spirited one, isn't she?"

"She always was. While she is very much a lady of society, she reserves the right to speak her mind with force at times."

"Are you going to go see her?"

"Yes. Will you come with me?"

"If you both think it is a good idea, I would like that. But if you wish to go alone, I completely understand."

"I shall write to her, accept her invitation and give her an update on the facts I omitted from the interview." He blushed a bit. "It sounds as if she picked up on what I did not mean to say so publicly."

I smiled. He had said several things in the past few days that I doubted most others caught, but it warmed my heart to hear those things.

Severus starting opening the remaining piles of letters; it had, not surprisingly, grown in the last few minutes.

"What do you think of all this?" I motioned to the letters.

"That I hope it ends soon." He pointed his wand at the fireplace, igniting the flame. With another wave of his wand, the unwanted letters flew into the fire. He grumbled and continued opening.

Orby appeared with breakfast. We thanked him and began eating as Severus continued reading. "Ah, that one is for you."

I reached for it gingerly. To my relief, it was from Bill. In the chaos the other night, Severus had not had the opportunity to discuss Edward's case with him. He asked if we were free for dinner that evening at Shell Cottage.

"Bill and Fleur have invited us to dinner tonight at their home. I had mentioned to Bill that you wanted to talk to him about one of the cases, but when everything happened, it fell by the wayside."

"That sounds fine." He considered the letter he was currently looking at carefully. "Hmm, this one is someone requesting advice on a potion modification. It's a reasonably interesting idea."

"Oh, that reminds me, what were you so engrossed in yesterday?"

"I saw Miss Brown as we entered the hospital wing yesterday. One of my projects that I was working on a few years ago was a scar reducing potion. I had tested it on myself during the war."

"But you have very few scars."

Severus looked at me incredulously.

"Trust me; I've looked at your body quite carefully." I blushed.

"Well, then the old potion seems to have worked fairly well. Trust me; there were plenty of wounds that should have scarred."

I winced. I didn't like to think of him in pain. I looked at his neck. "Even your neck is healing better than I would have expected."

"That's what got me thinking. I originally thought it was solely the phoenix tears, but given the success of the old potion, I'm not sure that's it. Arthur's scars are also minimal."

"Hmm, I never thought of that."

"There were several common ingredients from the anti-scarring potion and the original antivenin. So, it got me thinking, if the antidote for Nagini's potion minimized scarring from her bite, is it possible that the treatment for lycanthropy could be incorporated into an anti-scarring potion for werewolf bites?"

"That's an intriguing theory. No wonder you were in such a frenzied state yesterday."

"Well, the fresher the wounds are when the treatment is started, the more effective it is, so I doubt it could erase her scars completely, but it might help. I intend to dig into these theories more this morning."

"Do you think the same logic could be applied to other cursed wounds?"

"Possibly. One thing at a time though."

"Of course." I stood and kissed him before going to shower.

After I finished getting ready, I wrote Bill to accept his invitation. Severus had also prepared a response to his grandmother. It was still very early, so I decided to walk the messages to the owlery rather than have Orby take them. The walk would be refreshing.

"You may read it if you like."

I looked at him quizzically. "I do not wish to intrude."

"Please, read it."

"Okay."

Grandmother,

I would be happy to visit you this weekend. Thank you for the invitation. I will secure a Portkey to travel to the Dublin estate on Friday afternoon, if that is agreeable to you.

I agree that we have much to discuss, regarding both the past and the future. However, I must warn you, my past is not a pretty one, so it may behoove us both to focus on the future. On that subject, there is someone I would like you to meet at your convenience. Her name is Healer Elizabeth Prewett, and she and I have formed an attachment over the past several weeks.

I am equally hopeful that the Prince family can be rebuilt. I do understand the responsibilities of the family. That is something else we can talk about this weekend.

Severus

"It's lovely, Severus. I think she will be pleased."

"I just want you to understand, Elizabeth. If you accompany me this weekend, she will likely try and interview you for the role of the next Lady Prince. She will ask you many questions that involve conversations that you and I have not addressed."

"Are you suggesting that we should have those conversations, Severus?"

He stammered for a moment, and then he collected himself and continued, "Given the new development, yes, we probably should. Things can change in the future, so please don't panic about giving answers that I will hold you to in the future."

"Likewise, Severus, don't feel any pressure to have it all figured out."

"Thank you."

"Well, fire away."

Severus looked shocked at my candor.

"What?"

"There's no time like the present. What will she want to know?"

He took a deep breath. "She will want to know about your family. Not in a judgmental way, but she will use the information to assess your behavior. My Grandmother is not bigoted the way some purebloods are, but she was raised with Malfoys and married a Prince, so she does carry some prejudices. My father and his flaws did not elevate her view of Muggles. But your character and breeding will likely help level that out. You will remind her that both worlds contain people of all kinds.

"She will probably make some of the same mistakes Narcissa made in assessing your knowledge level of societal customs. She will expect you to be inexperienced in the way of Wizarding customs and society protocol. I'm not really worried about any of this, and I'm sure you will charm her the same way you have charmed Narcissa.

"The more difficult questions will come when she wants to know about us. The fact that our relationship is affectionate will please her; the speed will be concerning, I think. She will want to know your views on marriage, children and a woman's role in the household."

I laughed, "I see; now we get to the heart of the matter."

He scowled. "Elizabeth, this is difficult for me, please don't mock."

"Severus, I have always seen marriage and children in my future. It's always been a hazy, 'someday' sort of thing, but there hasn't ever been any doubt that it would happen at some point."

He sighed. "I can't say I've always had the luxury of seeing even a hazy future, Elizabeth. I spent years in a depression over Lily, and then for the past several years, I honestly expected to be a casualty of the war."

I closed my eyes in sadness at his admission. "What about now?"

"I should very much like to have a family someday. And honestly, someday doesn't mean fifteen years from now. I would like to still be a young man when my children are born."

I laughed. "You are talking to a Muggle-raised woman, Severus. Long term for a thirty-plus woman is five years in terms of childbearing."

"Your magical blood will probably allow you more time than a typical Muggle woman; you do realize that, don't you?"

"I do, logically, but I have my prejudices too. We are all prisoners of our conditioning, to some degree."

He nodded. "Just how hazy are your visions of family these days, Elizabeth?"

"Less so now than two months ago." I blushed and stared at my hands.

"I couldn't agree more. Now, do you mean that in terms of marriage, or children, or both?"

"Both, actually." My voice shook with nervousness.

"How many children do you want?"

"I would rather not have an only child, Severus. I also do not want a brood. I think my ideal would be three or four, but I could be happy with just two or possibly as many as five."

He smiled. "I think two or three would be wonderful, Elizabeth. Five sounds overwhelming, and I agree with you about having an only child. If that were our fate, it would be fine, of course, but that wouldn't be my preference."

I nodded and smiled.

"This is where you may get out of your comfort zone."

I laughed as I thought, Did he really think the last few questions weren't pulling me out of my comfort zone?

He continued. "She will not approve of our relationship beginning so informally. She will wish to rectify that."

"What does that mean?"

"Probably a Courtship Agreement," he began gingerly.

I must have looked affronted, because he continued in a somewhat placating tone, "They are not that onerous, and the terms are non-binding. It's simply a statement of good faith that we are pursuing a romantic relationship with the eventual intent of marriage. If we proceed to an engagement and a marriage contract, those will probably be more familiar to you. Wizarding engagements are no more formal than Muggle ones. A marriage contract is more about establishing inheritances for future heirs than anything, though some families are much more demanding in the contents. But the core of them is to ensure minimal fighting among heirs by laying that all out in advance."

"Interesting. That sounds a bit like a Muggle prenuptial agreement."

"I haven't heard of that, but I'll take your word for it."

"Will our private life be something she considers up for discussion?"

He laughed. "Nothing as crass as that, my dear, though our living arrangements will be specified in the Courtship Agreement. We would be allowed to stay under the same roof, but we would be expected to have separate rooms until marriage. If we were younger, it might be more onerous, but as it is, the need to guard anyone's virtue is obviously not a consideration."

I laughed. "So you living at the Manor and me here is acceptable, but both of us in the cottage would not be," I said and frowned.

"Why does that bother you, my dear?"

"I don't like you living under Lucius' roof, even technically. I was going to speak to you and get your thoughts on that tonight."

"I understand your concern. I do have a home that would suffice. It has room for us each to have our own space, though it is not large or grand. It is not far from where the Weasleys live. If you prefer, I could set up residence there again, and you could stay here to be near the hospital, though I would prefer you to be off Malfoy property as well."

"That is something to think about." I glanced at the clock. "Severus, the morning is getting away from me. I'm expected in the hospital in a half hour."

I excused myself and headed to the hospital. The morning was uneventful. Rounds and therapy were followed by lunch in my office as I made last minute preparations for my afternoon meeting at St. Mungo's. When the time came, I stepped through the Floo to the hospital lobby.

The receptionist pointed me to my meeting room. I was to meet with a member of the hospital board, the Chief Healer and a Squib who worked as a Muggle hospital administrator and served as a liaison for St. Mungo's. The head of Healer education was also attending to hear about Draco's progress.

They were all warm and welcoming. The receptionist brought in water, coffee and tea, and the Chief Healer called the meeting to order.

"We are here to discuss the progress at the St. Mungo's, Malfoy Manor Annex. There are nine patients under observation there, one full time Healer, and a round-the-clock mediwitch/wizard on staff. There is also an informal training program in place, and there is also an informal consultant assisting."

"That is all correct, sir."

"Very well. The first order of business is your consultant. For legal reasons, we must have a formal agreement with this individual. Please deliver the following agreement to Master Snape and have him review it. He may not work on patients directly until this is signed. It outlines his pay and rules for conduct. I doubt he will find anything objectionable in it, but we need his signature."

"There is a potential for a second consultant, sir. Master Snape feels he requires backup for one of the upcoming cases. He would like to utilize Curse-Breaker Bill Weasley if that is agreeable."

"Ah, well, as luck would have it, Mr. Weasley has assisted us in the past. I will have legal send him an extension of his prior contract if it has expired."

He continued. "What of your trainee? I would enroll him in our formal training program, except for the fact that he has not completed his required N.E.W.T.s. He will remain a volunteer until such time as he can enter the training program. He may observe procedures, but he may not perform any medical procedures.

"Now, tell us about the patient progress."

I outlined the progress of each patient. They listened attentively, took copious notes, and provided me with excellent feedback.

We discussed Aurora's memory triggers in detail. They agreed that Legilimency was the best course, but we decided to ease her into it, especially given her memories of Severus. Next, we talked about Lavender. It was agreed by all that she could be released at any time, that it was merely a matter of her own comfort. I touched briefly on Lady Malfoy's assistance, but did not go into detail. A similar decision was reached for Rosalyn. She would need to come to the hospital three times a week for therapy, but if she wished to spend the rest of her time at home, that was acceptable. Edward's case was also discussed thoroughly, including the source of the information for the treatment. Bill's involvement was addressed, along with our meeting with him scheduled for that evening. Dean, Terry and Jessica were progressing, but there was not much to be said there. The Muggle contact took down the information for Marjorie and informed me that he would owl me with the times and dates for her testing.

All in all, it was a productive meeting. I headed back to the cottage mentally tired but pleased with the results. I added my notes to the case files from the meeting while waiting for Severus to return from working with Draco.

The pile of owl deliveries had grown again. I sifted through them; I removed the ones that were for me, as well as separating the ones that I thought were from people Severus actually knew. Minerva had sent him a note, as had Minister Shacklebolt, Andromeda and Xenophilius.

I had received one from Molly and one from Aunt Muriel. I groaned inwardly. I opened Molly's first. It was short and friendly, checking in on Severus and me after Sunday. The family had discerned why we left in such a hurry, and she expressed renewed concerns about me living at the Manor. To my surprise, she suggested that I 'keep Severus close while staying at that awful place, for both of your protection'. I smiled. Perhaps she was warming to the idea of Severus and me.

Muriel, on the other hand, made my blood boil as always.

Elizabeth,

I read of your recent adventures in The Quibbler. I have a bit of advice for you my dear, though I would imagine you are too stubborn or too dim to take it. It seems that Severus Snape has been hiding a secret that makes him well worth catching, my dear. I have it on good authority that his claim of relation to the Prince family is actually true, much to my surprise. Further, my dear, it seems he is the sole heir to the Prince estate. No doubt his lackluster appearance and personality will deter many young women, so you might stand a chance to win him and improve your stature. Despite your very Muggle behavior and unladylike attitude, you do possess certain charms that he might find appealing. Use them at once, my dear, before someone else beats you to this opportunity.

Muriel

"Ugh!" I screamed in disgust, shredding the parchment with my wand and levitating it to the fireplace. I cast an Incendio. Watching the smoke, I felt mildly better.

"Everything, okay, dear?" I jumped. Severus chuckled.

"My horrible Aunt Muriel sent me an owl."

"I take it the letter was not pleasant."

"Well, the good news is she highly approves of you and me as a couple. The bad news is witches like her give merit to Lucius' original accusations towards me."

"Ah, so she advised you to 'snag the Prince heir'."

"More or less. It was peppered with insults, of course, and advised me to use my 'charms' on you before someone else stole this opportunity."

Severus rolled his eyes and laughed again.

"Funny, I've never been called an 'opportunity' before. You'd think I'd like it more than I do."

I suddenly took in Severus' appearance. He looked like he'd been exercising. His face was flushed, and his hair was messy and drenched in sweat. "Severus, what have you been up to this afternoon? You look like you've run a marathon."

"Defense evaluation of Draco. Let's just say he's ready for the Defense N.E.W.T. He tossed me up against a couple walls."

"Severus, you are still recovering. Please be careful."

"Yes, dear," he said, crinkling his nose at me in mock submission. "I'm going to go shower and get ready for dinner."

"By the way, you have a few owls that you might actually want to read. I tried to separate out the personal ones from the responses to the articles. There's also a consultancy contract from St. Mungo's."

"Thank you. I'll look at them when we get back," he said as he left the room. I went into the bedroom and dressed while he showered, then I returned to the living room and some of the books we were reviewing. He emerged a few minutes later looking refreshed and ready to go.

Dinner at Bill and Fleur's was quite pleasant. Bill and Severus talked privately about Edward's case. Bill agreed to come over to help on Thursday. He told me he had received the update of his contract via owl just before we arrived. We all laughed at the bureaucracy of it all.

Fleur and I chatted a bit about Sunday. "I am sorry we all laughed at you and Severus," she said sincerely. "He seems genuinely different now. He's still sarcastic and a little impatient with people, but it's lighter now. The malice is gone. I don't know if you are the cause of the improvement, or if the improvement is the cause of your interest in him, but you two seem to be good for one another."

"Thank you."

It was late when Severus and I returned to the cottage. I noticed that he was limping a bit.

"Severus, are you alright?"

"My back is a bit sore. Draco is stronger than he realizes."

"It may be a result of the binding charm being lifted."

"Probably." He winced with the pain.

"Alright, that's it. Take your shirt off. Lie down on your stomach on the bed. Let me see what I can do for that back."

"Yes, ma'am." He did as he was told.

I crawled up on the bed and started working his sore muscles. I used warming charms to help soothe him. After a few minutes, he started to relax. I kept working, and after a few more minutes, I heard a soft snore emerging from beneath me. Chuckling, I climbed off the bed. I levitated him slightly and pulled the sheet over him. I then put my gown on and got ready for bed, crawling in next to him.

Wednesday passed as expected. Severus continued working on his research in the morning, and he tested Draco in Charms in the afternoon. I had tea with Narcissa. We were having a nice conversation, but she could tell I was distracted.

"What is troubling you, Elizabeth?"

"Severus is going to visit his grandmother this weekend."

"Lady Prince?" Narcissa looked genuinely excited by the prospect.

"Yes."

"Why do you find this troubling?"

"He wants me to go with him."

"I don't understand the problem. I thought things were going well with you and Severus."

"Narcissa, this is not a world I understand. He's talking of rules, agreements, protocols, titles and responsibilities. It's completely foreign to me. I'm going to make a mess of things."

She gasped. "He's talking about getting approval from his Head of Household to court you officially?"

"He thinks she will insist upon it."

"And he's willing?" I nodded. She beamed.

"Narcissa, I don't understand. He said that was just a good faith statement of our intentions."

"Intentions to eventually marry, Elizabeth. That is a huge step, especially for someone like Severus. You may already know his intentions, but for him to make them publicly known is significant."

"What if she doesn't approve of me? They shunned his mother for a bad match."

"First of all, you can't possibly be comparing yourself to Tobias Snape. Do you know anything of the man?"

"I know he lacked character and he was cruel to both Severus and his mother. But was that really why they were shunned? I know that background means a lot to many of these old families."

"It probably means less to Lady Prince than it would have to the former Lord Prince. He was the one who shunned Eileen. Lady Prince wanted to protect her daughter and grandson; she was just limited on what she could do. She often sent her pin money to Eileen."

"I didn't know that."

"Besides, Elizabeth, the Prewetts have always been considered a very respectable family. I don't think you have anything to fear."

"I hope you are right."

"May I ask you another question?"

"Yes."

"Draco shared something with me in your early days here, and I'll admit, I followed up on it."

"Why do I think I'm about to get ambushed?"

"Tell me about your mother's family."

I sighed. "You checked up on me, didn't you?"

"Please don't be angry. I wanted to know who was educating Draco. I want to make sure my information is correct."

"Mother's family is from Ireland originally. They immigrated to the eastern United States in the mid-nineteenth century. My great-grandfather was involved in U.S. politics, as were several of my cousins. One still is. My grandparents were society people, Grandfather was a successful businessman and Grandmother was a socialite. Mother became a college professor after returning to the U.S."

"That's actually quite a pedigree. The Prince line is already half-blood. Your background is actually stronger than Severus'; it is just reversed. Your Muggle line is the 'ancient and noble' line, and your pureblood line is solid and respectable. Severus is from an ancient pureblood line and a highly questionable Muggle line."

"I don't think like that, Narcissa. Actually, that makes me really uncomfortable."

"Please don't think I'm insulting Severus. He saved my son's life. I'm merely pointing out that if anyone tries to throw stones, you are not at a disadvantage." She paused as I considered her words. "Knowing Lady Prince, she will only care about your character and the fact that you two love each other."

I looked up, shocked.

"Don't deny it, Elizabeth. He would not be talking about this with you if he didn't love you; nor would you be worried about it if you didn't love him."

"I trust I can rely on your discretion, Narcissa."

She smiled and nodded. "Just be yourself, dear. Be honest about what you don't know regarding etiquette, and be open and willing to learn. Severus will be a solid guide through this process."

That evening, the return owl arrived from Lady Prince.

"Friday is confirmed, Elizabeth. Grandmother says would like very much if you are able to accompany me this weekend. She did inquire who your Head of Household should be for her to seek permission from before you attend."

"What?"

"It's a custom, Elizabeth. Before any formal courtship can begin, the heads of our family must correspond, even if only by owl."

"My mother isn't going to understand any of this."

"Well, it's generally a male blood relative. And a Muggle would be highly irregular."

"My only male blood relatives are the Weasley men. And Arthur isn't a blood relative."

"What about Bill?"

"Is Bill going to understand all of this?"

"I would guess that he will understand it fairly well. French magical courtship etiquette is even more strict than English. He probably had to go through all of this with Fleur." He paused.

"And the fact that he's younger than me?"

"It is unorthodox, but not unprecedented. He's basically playing the role of a brother."

I considered his words. "I suppose I should talk to him."

Severus suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"What is it?"

"I spoke to him last night. He is willing. Don't worry, he doesn't seek to make any decisions for you, it's just a formality in your case. It's a holdover from when brides were very young."

"I feel like I've been transplanted back two hundred years."

"Honestly, it's probably more like five hundred years. Please don't worry; we all respect that you are an independent woman. It's just a tradition."

I sighed. "Severus, I trust you. But this is bizarre to me. You are going to have to help me through all of this, or else I'm going to make an idiot of myself."

"You'll be fine, dear. And I'll be with you every step of the way. If you are okay with this, I will let Grandmother know that Bill is your representative."

I nodded, and he kissed me. "It's going to be okay, Lizzie."

Bill came out on Thursday. He and Severus performed the countercurse on Edward while Draco and I completed the morning therapy sessions. When I examined Edward right before lunch, the wound had closed, and this time, it looked completely healed.

The morning's magic had depleted Severus' magical energy levels dramatically. We decided that it was time for him to take the final round of the antivenin. I notified Draco that Severus was taking the afternoon off, and I would work with him on the charms that Severus had identified Draco needed the most practice. As it turned out, Draco had not completed an O.W.L. in Charms, so he had not completed the N.E.W.T.-level training in Charms. This meant it would be his weakest area, and he had to take his O.W.L. in a month in order to even be eligible to take the N.E.W.T. in November. Luckily, he was quite strong in Defense, Transfiguration and Potions, so he would need very limited tutoring in those areas. Severus offered to take Herbology in order to allow me more time to work with him on Charms.

Draco, Severus, Bill and I all had lunch together. Immediately after lunch, Draco was supposed to meet with Ministry officials. Apparently this was the day that Lucius' magic was to be bound, and Draco needed to be present to have the Manor's magical properties transferred to him.

Severus laid down to rest after taking the antivenin. Bill and I decided to go out onto the grounds to talk so that we wouldn't disturb Severus' rest.

"Lizzie, how are you holding up?"

"What do you mean, Bill?"

"Are you nervous about the visit to Severus' grandmother this weekend?"

"Oh, that. Yes, I'm very nervous."

"It's going to be okay. He's not going to let any harm come to you in any form."

I smiled. "I don't think it's all that dramatic, Bill. I'm just out of my element."

"I understand. Severus gets it as well. He may have learned all of this academically, but he's never been through it before either."

"That's true. I hadn't thought about it that way."

"And you seem to have the best resources in Britain at your disposal."

"What do you mean, Bill?"

"Lady Malfoy likes you. Draco likes you. Lucius is a bastard, but I would suspect after Severus' outburst the other night, he will behave."

"You heard about that?"

"Yes. Severus told me last night that you kept him from attacking Lucius. Though I think you should have turned his hair purple or something." We both laughed. "You complement each other, Lizzie. I know we all teased you initially, but really, it's a good match."

"Thank you."

"Oh, and Draco told me to give you the following advice ..."

"Oh, no. I'm afraid to ask."

"He said that you should," Bill put on his best Draco imitation, "try to find the value in the perspectives of others, even when you disagree."

"That little punk!" I laughed heartily.

Bill looked confused.

"I told him that a while back. He's turning it around on me."

Bill laughed along with me. We talked for a few more minutes, and then he headed home to Shell Cottage.

Thursday evening, Severus and I stayed in and enjoyed a quiet night. We had dinner, talked, read, shared a bath, made love and went to bed early. Friday morning, I attended to the patients with Draco. I returned to the cottage for lunch and to prepare for our trip. Severus had visited the Ministry in the morning and picked up the Portkey.

We finished lunch and packed for the weekend. At two o' clock, we stood holding an old book, waiting for the Portkey to glow. I took a deep breath and looked into his eyes.