Stay With Me (sequel to Forever Yours)

2. Alive

Severus arose the next morning bright and early, despite the late hour he stayed up.  He didn't sleep but a couple of hours before the dreams began.  More like flashbacks really.  He could see her dying in front of him over and over again and then suddenly she was awake, but he couldn't reach her.  He woke up covered in tears and cursing out loud.  Instead of trying to fight his insomnia, he embraced it.

It was four in the morning, but he got up and got dressed anyway.  There was one person in the world he knew would be up this early and he was going to go talk to her.  He had been trying to get up the nerve the last few days to do so because who better to know that Lucy was alive than her best friend Jolene Samuels?  He remembered that she went by Jo for short, but he could barely recall what she looked like.  He hadn't seen her in ages it seemed like, except from a distance when she came with her boyfriend Chad to visit Lucy's grave.  He wondered if she knew Lucy was alive.  Surely if she was she would have told Jo first thing.  And even if she was blissfully ignorant to the possibility, he was about to mess that up.

Dumbledore offering to help him find Lucy was kind of him, but the more he thought about it, the worse the idea seemed.  The Ministry would have to do everything by the book and it could possibly take longer.  Severus couldn't afford to wait for officials at the Ministry to help.  He needed to know as soon as possible because it felt like he was losing his mind.  

Severus walked down to Lucy's grave.  He knew it was just outside the force field for the school so strangers could visit her resting place.  That's how that strange man had gotten there, a man he hadn't seen again since the day he delivered that cryptic letter.

"I'm going to find you, my love," he whispered as he walked by.  Then he disapparated.

It was still dark when he reappeared on the street where Jo's apartment was located.  For the life of him he couldn't recall the name of it at the moment.  It was Peony Street or something like that.  Not that it mattered.  He was just thinking of anything he could to calm his nerves.  He wasn't used to visiting people early in the morning like this.  He found the apartment a few seconds later and stepped up to the door.  Severus could see the kitchen light on through the window.  Thankful she was up, he hesitantly knocked on the door.  He heard a bit of shuffling inside and the faint sound of dishes clanking together.  He held his breath as the door creaked open, but only wide enough to see who was there.

Jo's eyes grew large when she saw it was Severus Snape standing at her door.  She opened the door all the way.  "Hello, Severus."

He gave her a short nod.  "Hello, Jo."  

She smiled.  "What brings you to Persephone Street?"

That was the name of it! he thought.  Persephone.  He cleared his throat.  "I needed to talk to you about something.  May I come in?"

Jo stepped to the side.  "Of course.  Come on in and sit down.  I'll pour us both a steaming hot cup of coffee."

Severus walked into the apartment and she shut the door behind him.  Neither of them realized that they were being watched.

~ * ~

Across the street, two masked figures sat huddled at the edge of the alley.  Their excitement raised as they saw Severus go into the apartment.

"I told you he would end up here!" Faye exclaimed.

Her partner rolled his eyes.  "Yeah, well it took him long enough, didn't it?  We've only been staked out here every night for the last two weeks."

"Cool off, Spike.  Lucius told us he would come."

Spike huffed.  "He also told us that he was a Death Eater.  He's a great one, isn't he?  Poisoned with love!"  He turned his head and spit on the ground like even saying the word was the worst thing in the world.  "It makes a man weak."