"What are we having for dinner?" Emma asked as she walked into the kitchen.
"I'm making pasta. The easy one, with the tomatoes."
A frown appeared on Emma's face. "Oh."
Aunt April quirked an eyebrow as she drained the spaghetti. "Oh? Not good enough?"
"It's fine," said Emma. "Severus doesn't like pasta."
"Well, then it's a good thing he's not having dinner with us tonight, isn't it? Set the table, will you?"
Emma silently walked over to the cabinets and took out two plates and two sets of utensils.
"You know what you've forgotten to tell me?" said Aunt April, as she mixed the pasta and the sauce together.
"What's that?"
"You've been telling me all about your new friend, all summer long..." She poked Emma teasingly. "But what you haven't told me, is whether or not you two are boyfriend and girlfriend yet."
Emma paled, her eyes widening. "Aunt April!"
"What?"
"No! It's not like that! We're just friends."
"Just friends?" Aunt April laughed. "Come on, Emma, you're obviously crazy about this kid."
"It's not like that, okay?" Emma dropped herself on her chair by the kitchen table, her cheeks warm with colour. "He's in love with Lily."
Her eyes snapped to her niece. "You're kidding?"
"No," Emma muttered, playing with her fork. "He doesn't like me that way."
Aunt April sighed as she set the steaming pan down in the middle of the table. "I'm sorry, darling."
"It's fine. They're both my best friends. It's nice if they end up together." Emma tried to sound convincing, but she knew her aunt would see right through it, so she busied herself with scooping pasta onto her plate.
"Well, yeah, but –"
"Aunt April!"
"Alright!" She put her hands up defensively. "Alright. I'll drop it."
Emma nodded. All throughout dinner, she didn't speak again.
"CROOAAKK!"
"Alright, alright, hang on."
With a vegetable knife, Emma peeled the skin off a cherry tomato she'd taken up from breakfast and cut it in half. She'd barely laid them on the desk when her toad gobbled up both halves and called out again.
"Yes, Croak, I'm on it!" She laughed. "You can't eat them with the skin, your little stomach can't digest it. Be patient."
Before she'd finished peeling the next tomato, Croak stuck out his tongue and licked her face.
"Ugh! Dammit, why would you do that?" She rubbed her face with her sleeve, trying to get the sticky slime off her skin. "I'm never giving you tomatoes again, if that's how you thank me."
"Emma?"
"Come in, the door's open!"
She wiped her face clean one more time, before picking up the toad, holding him at arms length just to be safe.
"Morning, Severus," she said as she put Croak back in his cage.
Her best friend looked better this morning. The lines on his faced weren't as defined. His hair less greasy. His lips – No. Stop.
"Good morning. I'm not too early, am I?"
"Not at all. I just finished feeding Croak. He can catch his own lunch later," she added darkly.
"Crooaak!"
"Where are your things? Don't tell me you still haven't unpacked." He tilted his head.
Emma wrinkled her nose, glancing around the bare room once again. "Ah. Perhaps I should've mentioned. You see, I don't really... have any... things..."
"What?" Severus looked shocked. "You worked in the hospital. Surely they paid enough for you to have some possessions."
"Oh, they did. No, that's not the issue. It's just... I kind of left my old apartment behind quite suddenly when I came here." It was a memory she wouldn't soon forget. Jordan hadn't even finished putting his clothes back on before she'd slammed the door shut behind her. She sighed. There was no point beating around the bush. "My ex still has everything."
Something flashed in Severus' eyes. Pity, perhaps? Emma turned away to rearrange Croak's cage, not willing to see pity on her best friend's face.
"Alright. Let's go get your things. I will handle your ex."
With her eyebrows raised, she turned to find him fingering his wand with a smirk on his face. She didn't doubt his statement for a moment. Towards the end of their school career, he'd gotten so good at duelling that Potter and Black, the two Gryffindors he always got into quarrels with, couldn't handle him with just the two of them anymore. Jordan would be no match for Severus.
"No," said Emma resolutely. "I'm not going back there." Especially not with you. I don't need you to see my most embarrassing moment. "Let's go to Hogsmeade. They'll have everything I need there."
His smirk made way for a genuine smile at the suggestion. "Hogsmeade it is."
"Crooooaaak!"
A wave of nostalgia overwhelmed her when they stepped into the Three Broomsticks hours later. The clinking of glasses at the bar, the chatter of the few patrons that occupied the tables, even the heavy smell of sweet butterbeer brought a smile to her face. The amount of time she'd spent here with Severus and Lily, chatting, laughing and – sometimes – crying, was immeasurable.
Emma broke out of her thoughts when Severus placed his hand on her lower back.
"Find us a seat. I'll get the drinks."
Without waiting for an answer, he trotted off to the bar, leaving behind a burning mark on her back. A shuddering sigh escaped her. She sat down in the back corner and placed her handbag on the bench next to her. In it were all the items she'd bought to cheer up her quarters: some new books, a few floating book cabinets to put them in, a large clock to hang on the wall, and the wizard's chessboard that Severus had insisted on buying for her. All shrunk down to the size of her hand.
She waved when he glanced around the pub.
"I should've known you'd come straight to our corner." He set two mugs of butterbeer down on the table before sitting down opposite her.
"It didn't feel right, taking another table." She grinned and held up her butterbeer. "To us. Old friends, new co-workers."
He clunked his glass against hers before taking a sip. A satisfied sigh escaped him as he set the drink down. "It's been too long."
"Yes," said Emma softly, wrapping her fingers around the glass. "Yes, it has." Guilt crept up, despite his voice being free of blame. The beer tasted bitter on her tongue. It was completely and utterly her fault that they hadn't spoken in so long. If only she'd never left. If only –
"Why did you come here?" he asked suddenly.
Her heart made a terrified little leap at the question. "What?"
"You were a healer – the job you've always dreamed of. You had a boyfriend. Why did you leave it all behind to teach at Hogwarts?"
Emma fiddled with her braid, wrapping the tip around her finger. "Sounds like the perfect life, doesn't it?" She said, her voice sounding hollow even to her own ears.
"You said you left your ex quite suddenly," he pressed on. "What happened?"
"He, er..." She sighed. "I came home one day to find him cheating on me. With someone I considered to be a friend."
His eyes hardened, as if he'd erected the walls behind them. "I'm sorry."
"It's alright. I've always had this tendency to go for the wrong guy."
"You have?" Severus tilted his head. "I don't think I've ever seen you in a serious relationship."
Exactly.
"I wasn't sure you'd ever start dating," he added with a teasing grin.
She chuckled at the jeer, as he finally began to sound like himself again. "Well, for your information, I did. And it sucked."
"It would seem so." A smile tugged at his lips as he took another swig from his drink. "A shame you had to leave your job behind. Did you enjoy working at the hospital?"
"Oh, it was great!" Her face lit up. "It's hard work, but so satisfying. Most patients are so grateful for even the tiniest gesture of help. And you always have to stay on your toes, because you never know what kind of emergency comes through those doors."
He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes this time. "Sounds like you'll miss it there."
Emma sipped her drink, shrugging. "Maybe. I actually think this job might be similar in many ways. Hard work, always having to stay on your toes."
"Your students aren't going to be very grateful after you give them homework."
She laughed. "That's true. What about you? What –" She bit her tongue. Don't ask him what he's been up to! He was a Death Eater, for God's sake. She cleared her throat. "How did you end up at Hogwarts?"
He took a long sip of his butterbeer before he answered. "That is a long story. One better suited for another time."
"Oh." Emma's eyebrows raised slightly, but she chose to drop it. He'd tell her when he was ready. "Alright, sure."
"How is your aunt doing? She's still an auror, isn't she?"
Emma gasped. "Aunt April! Oh shit, I still haven't written to her!"
"You were right." Emma looked around her office. Her fancy new clock hung in the middle of the back wall and the book cabinets, filled with books, floated against both side walls. Croak had gotten his own table by the desk for his cage. The chessboard had gotten a special place behind the glass door of one of the cabinets. On her desk stood a lone quill and ink, but she suspected it'd be filled with parchment before long. "It looks much better this way."
"Undoubtedly," said Severus. "It's yours now."
"Thank you. For insisting."
A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he folded his hands behind his back. "My pleasure. I should get going. I still have some work to do and you seem to have a letter to write."
Emma groaned and shook her head. "My aunt's going to kill me for not telling her sooner." She walked him to the door, where he turned around once more.
With a nod towards one of the cabinets, he said, "Don't let that chessboard sit there collecting dust."
"We'll play." She laughed. "Soon."
One more nod and he strode off through the second-floor corridor.
As she closed the door behind him, she felt an awfully familiar tingling in her chest. The smile on her face refused to dwindle. She sat down at her desk and stuck her finger through Croak's cage to stroke his back.
"I am such an idiot, Croak," she muttered. "This cannot end well."
She'd felt that same tingle so many times before, all those years ago. She'd felt it every time he smiled at her. Every time they were alone together. The fact that she felt it now, could only mean one thing.
Emma was falling in love all over again.