Both of them had the rest of their lunch in silence. Snape concluded that there is no point arguing with the girl; she had a point. Now is the time to keep his kitchen restocked. Most importantly those specific potions needed brewing and that too in surplus. In other words he has to be prepared for the worst.
Snape sent the dishes to wash in the sink and told the girl to get ready. She quickly rushed to the guest room to change her clothes and then back to the living room. She checked her sling bag for muggle money; she had enough to buy the groceries and a few new clothes. Now she couldn't help but wonder if Snape had casual muggle clothes. She wouldn't think a man walking in formal robes is a regular sight. But she was relieved instantly when he came down wearing a pair of black jogger jeans and a grey dress shirt with collar down. His hair was tied in a low ponytail.
Impressive...
"Don't tell me Haimi, you're going to the market in pumps."
She looked down at her feet and cringed at herself. That's true; she would never wear them to go out for shopping but she had no other option. She still hasn't mastered shoe transfiguration. She could get the problem worse if her attempt goes haywire.
"It's alright. I'll manage." she tried to sound convincing. God bless her, she has danced in heels higher than these in her big fat Indian family weddings.
That being said she picked up her sling bag and walked out of the main door. Snape followed her and started putting heavy guards around the house perimeter. When he came back he only said...
" Try to keep up with me."
He started to walk in long strides down the street. Svadhina ran to follow up and eventually caught up with him.
"Sir, I'm not blessed with long feet, if you please have little mercy on me." she said catching her breath. He said nothing but slowed down a bit.
Does he enjoy people begging him for mercy?
"You were brewing Wolfsbane, isn't it?" Snape asked all of a sudden.
"Yes. It slipped out of my mind. Lupin had owled you requesting for a new batch of it saying and I quote "that it is required even more than before". "
"So I thought about starting my work with that. The potion is unharmed and is left for maturation."
"I see. It was almost time he asked for it. I would have brewed anyway." he replied
"Thinking back, how did you solve the riddle? For a moment I thought we lost it." he continued.
"Well... you said that three potions were the fire extinguishing potions and the other two.....I suspected them to be poisonous. You also mentioned that their contents kept changing and I noticed the bottles kept refilling in every ten seconds. Since all of them looked dark on the shelf, I placed them where the sunlight fell. And now that I have to use my senses, I couldn't smell them as they're strong enough to burn my nostrils in a whiff, so I was left with my sense of sight only. Extinguishing potions are coloured and the ones you've kept were red, blue and yellow against the sun. The fire burning was white and mixing the potions together would give me a black extinguishing potion. Now the big deal was to mix them at the right time. I was left with no option but to throw the bottles together at the correct time and given their volatile nature they mixed eventually."
Snape looked straight but she could see the corner of his lips lifted slightly. He mouthed something called
Wiser....
"I suggest you buy some clothes for yourself first. Then we can go to the grocery store."
"As you wish, professor." Svadhina replied cheerfully.
They reached a shop which seemed to be selling casual clothes suited for the coming fall. She was glad that they hadn't attracted any unwanted attention. She felt a little weird to be out shopping with someone like Snape; he'd been quite tolerable till now. They entered the shop and the chiming bell alerted the owner who happened to be a young French man with blonde hair and sharp blue eyes.
"Bonjour, jeune fille." said the man as he took Svadhina's right hand for a peck.
Svadhina was delighted to see his mannerisms and felt warmth rushing to her cheeks.
"Bonjour" she replied him
"What are you looking for Madame ?"
She got a little engrossed in the man's beauty that she didn't hear him clearly. Snape seemed to be watching every expression of hers, so he tugged his hand around her elbow to get her attention.
"Haimi, the young man wishes to know what do you need to buy." He said in a weird sweet tone; unlike the Snapeish tone.
"Oh sorry, yeah. Not much just some comfortable homely clothes, casual dress shirts and a pair of denims."
"Alright. This way madame, we have everything on the display."
Snape came to her and whispered in her ears.
" Hiami, make sure you don't take forever." His gesture made blood rush to her neck and cheeks, even stronger than before. She couldn't understand why she would get nervous whenever he got closer to her.
Snape you get me like no other. I give you that much credits.
She was so flustered that her reply came out in a stammer.
"Uhm yeah...I ..I won't."
Svadhina quickly picked up two baggy Tshirts- a grey and a viridian one; a pair of blue denims, a pair of cotton undies, a bra and a pair of pyjamas. She took them to the billing counter where the handsome guy stood.
"Wouldn't you try eet, madame?"
"No thanks, I'm confident about the fit."
"You're pretty sure you are." he replied in a flirtatious tone.
"Would you mind me asking your name, madame."
And then Svadhina felt Snape's presence beside her.
"I don't think that's necessary young man, we aren't coming again. Besides, If I were you, I wouldn't want my customer to wait for long."
He then placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze.
"Correct Haimi ?" He eyed the blonde man menacingly.
The man placed her items quickly in a bag with a bill.
" Here you go, mademoiselle."
Svadhina greeted him with a goodbye and left the shop with Snape. No one spoke on their way to the grocery store. When they reached, they went on different paths to get the various items needed. Before billing, they sorted their things. Svadhina saw that Snape came back with basic food stuff like bread, frozen chicken, egg tray, milk cartons, vegetables and cookies like manyyy cookies.
Snape has a sweet tooth.
Svadhina on the other hand had sausages, salamis, a packet of basmati rice, yellow pulses, nuts like almonds, dates and cashews, a whole lot of cucumbers, lemons and packets of ...
"Shiyo ramen?" asked Snape with a lift of his left brow.
"Yeah. I'm craving them and I have picked many other things we'll need."
"I see..." He drawled.
" Don't be such a drag. I'll pay." She said with a grin.
Snape just stood there, defeated and tired. He could do nothing or as much as argue when it came to food.
" Just cut it woman. If you're so adamant about spending, rather donate them to some charity business."
He paid for the food items and both left holding a bag each.
They were walking side by side in companionable peace on a deserted street back to his home. The exams which Mcgonagall called as Wizardry Entrance Exams were nearing. They were to be taken by a Ministry official to test her skills as she was too late to join Hogwarts. Svadhina had to put all the knowledge cramped in her head to test. Four years of missed education in two months was way to much to handle but she had coped up with it anyway. She wondered if she would remember anything by then.
"Do you think, I'll pass them ?" Svadhina asked bringing Snape's attention to her.
"Pass what ?"
" My entrance exams in the Ministry of Magic."
Snape sighed and said
" I have a feeling that I'm not getting rid of you soon."
" That means you believe I'll pass. You believe in me." she replied more to herself than to him.
" I never said that." He said back.
" I get it."
Svadhina gave him the most genuine smile ever. People could rarely convince her let alone win her trust. She had always been forced to believe that people had some selfish benefits to be taken when they talked to each other; that it was never out of true care or love. Even the professors of her muggle world; they never really bothered if their students ever learned something as long as they were getting paid. They would end their lectures and leave. The friends she had made in school and university had abandoned her even though they had promised to stand by each other always. All these experiences have made Svadhina realise that except for her parents she had none to call her own. That's why she acted as formal as possible with everyone; drawing her boundaries so she wouldn't get hurt when they would leave her eventually.
But here things looked different for the first time. She felt she can loosen herself up a little, for she has received genuine support and care from people like Mcgonagall, Hagrid and even Dumbledore who have nothing to gain from her.
Svadhina realised that she'd been staring at Snape for quite some time. He too had stepped closer to her. He was standing at the inches difference; towering her and looking intensely in her eyes.
"Why ...why are you looking at me like this ?" she whispered as she looked up at him.
"Like what ?" He said back
"Like ...like..." she couldn't say any word.
He is soo close to me.
"Please understand...." he whispered over her nose and then he lowered his face, quickly backed her up at the wall behind her and crashed his lips on her own. Svadhina felt her eyes going wide as she lowered them to her mouth where they were attached. Snape's long, cold nose teased her warm cheeks in the most erotic way ever. He has not grabbed her waist or hips at all but had trapped her with his hands on both sides of her on the wall. It was all so quick that she froze and agonizingly couldn't return the kiss. But he didn't stop as if he had just started. He had already slipped his tongue into her, tracing every corner of her mouth. One of his hands lowered to her lips and pinched her lower lip down to open her mouth wider. It made Svadhina let out a sound even foreign to her own ears. Snape moaned in her mouth and pressed her hard with his torso.
It felt like forever when he started to kiss her but when it ended, Svadhina turned her face to the left as Snape rested his own to her right, heavily breathing on her neck. The weather was still warm but not more than her right now. The breeze felt like ice on her face and lips which she was damn sure was red and swollen from his lips. But then she lowered down herself to squat on her heels and she was up. In seconds she turned around and threw her shoe hard across the street, hitting the man standing at a hotdog van.
" Accio shoe." She shouted.
Meanwhile, Snape sprinted across the street to check on the man. His nose and mouth were bleeding. Svadhina reached behind him expression less.
" I understand, we were being watched." she said
"He's unconscious." Snape replied
" It couldn't be otherwise." she said confidently " By the looks of you sir, I presume you know him." asked Svadhina.
" I do and I'm not obligated to tell you."
" You don't have to. I can tell he's a Death Eater."
Snape fixed the man's nose and modified his memories. Svadhina had left his side and waited with the grocery bags away from the scene. When he finally came back after removing every evidence, he said.
" We can head back safe."
"Alright."
" How did you know? Did you see the ma...?"
" Sixth sense. Besides, there is no reason for you to kiss me in the middle of a street."
" My apologies, Haimi."
" I understand sir. I know you're a Death Eater back as a double agent to Riddle and the Headmaster. And don't ask any further." she interrupted when she saw him open his mouth.
"I really don't care what you do. Being a part of this world now makes it my responsibility to know everything that's happening. However, I get a feeling of trust issues in someone.... concerning you."
Snape listened to her and the very first time it took everything to hide his surprise. The girl knew all along that he was a Death Eater and a double agent. Yet she went along with him like nothing mattered. Moreover, he could say he was impressed by her conscious mind because he knew he did a good job with the kiss and anyone could not get back to their senses soon. Her throw could have been fatal should she be close enough. It already drew blood from the man's nose and made him unconscious.
" I hope I played along well." She said
You didn't play along Haimi ...not literally to my kiss and I'm glad you didn't because I had forgotten I was playing an act even without you kissing back. Why do you keep driving me into you deeper and deeper? Merlin forbid me.
"It's getting dark, let's be quick." He said and both went walking back to Spinner's End as if nothing had happened.
****
Another update guys
Enjoyy
Until next time.