Chapter 16
Snape wakes up and looks at the sleeping form of his girlfriend, Astoria. He smiles at the thought of that, as he takes in her beauty. How peaceful she looks as she sleeps. How close she is to him. Her warm body against his. He sighs contentedly as he watches her sleep. He kisses her lightly on her head and without waking her, carefully gets out of bed. He gives himself a good stretch and heads quietly to the bathroom for a hot shower. After a nice hot shower, he gets out of the shower and dries himself off. He tiptoes quietly and grabs his usual black robes and gets dressed. After combing his hair, he grabs his wand and puts it up his sleeve. He takes a quill and parchment, writes a little note to her, and leaves the note on the bed next to her. He smiles as an idea comes to him. He takes out his wand and waves it over the note. A beautiful lily appears on the note. He puts his wand back up his sleeve and quietly leaves for the Great Hall, a noticeable spring in his step.
Astoria wakes up a few minutes later, her hand looking for his warm body. Upon realizing that he wasn't there, she opens her eyes and sees a note with a lily on it. She smiles and picks up the lily and the note. She smells the lily, then starts to read the note:
My lovely Astoria,
I did not have the heart to wake you, because you looked so peaceful when you sleep and I did not want to disturb you. Last night was incredible, a night that I will never forget. A night that I will cherish forever. I love you, Astoria, always. I hope you slept well, my love. I shall meet you in the Great Hall, my lovely Astoria.
I am forever yours, always,
Severus Snape
P.S. I hope you like the lily I left you. I took the liberty of having the house elves bring your robes to my quarters, since you spent the night with me. The password to enter my quarters ,is of course: Lily. To lock yourself out of my quarters is: Salazar.
Astoria chuckles as she takes the note and lily and gets out of bed. She gives herself a good stretch and heads to the bathroom for a good hot shower. After she showers, she gets out and dries herself off, then puts on her robes and brushes her hair. Satisfied with how she looks, she grabs her wand and waves it over the bed, cleaning it. She waves her wand once more over the bed, and makes the bed. She walks out of his quarters, closes the door behind her and says the password to lock the door. She heads to the Great Hall and spots Snape. She smiles at Snape who smiles slightly in return. Love can clearly be seen in his eyes. Not hiding it in the slightest. Astoria goes to the staff table and sits down. Snape watching her as she does so. Astoria sits down, sets her lily down and begins to eat. Snape smiles as he sees the lily, then turns to his food and begins to eat as well.
McGonagall looks at the pair of them and asks, "Where were you two? I haven't seen either of you two since the waltz." Snape looks at McGonagall. After taking a sip of his orange juice, Snape said, "Astoria and I wanted some time alone." McGonagall smiles knowingly, "I see. You two have gotten quite close then?" Snape said, "Yes we are. In fact, I might as well tell you all now, but not a word to the students, understood?" The teachers nod. "You especially Hagrid." said Snape as he looks at Hagrid. Hagrid replies, "You have my word, Professor." Snape sighs, his cheeks slightly pink, as he said, "Astoria and I are a couple now. We are very much in love." Astoria chokes on her pancakes as she turns red. She takes a few sips of her orange juice and looks at Snape. Her face as red as a tomato. The teachers look at Astoria now. Astoria still blushing, clears her throat and said, "He is correct. We are a couple now and we love each other very much." The teachers smile as they give their congrats to both Snape and Astoria. Snape and Astoria gave their thanks and return to their breakfast. The teachers did the same.
Owls began to fly into the Great Hall with their usual letters and packages. A great horn owl flew to Astoria, a letter in its beak. The owl landed on the table in front of her. Astoria gently takes the letter and looks at Snape with a curious expression on her face. The owl flies away as soon as Astoria takes the letter. Snape looks at Astoria with the same curious expression. Astoria opens the letter and begins to read:
Astoria Alderlade,
I am your grandfather, Alexander Blackbourne. Yes, I know.
Your mother never talked much about me, did she? Not since I killed her mother. Believe me, she deserved it. She wasn't supposed to keep secrets from me. That's what marriage is all about, correct? Trust, Loyalty, Faithfulness, and no secrets?
Let me get right to the point, Astoria. The main reason for this: letter is this: I did not want my daughter marrying any muggleborns. Half-Bloods I would have accepted, but muggleborns? I wanted to keep our bloodline as pure as possible. For her mother to keep that information from me was deserving of death.
Your mother attacked me. She will pay for attacking me, which brings me to you. I have the perfect plan. Of course, I will not tell you of the plan. You will see soon enough. I will tell you this: I will be coming to collect you. You are a vital part of my plan. I look forward to meeting you, Astoria.
Alexander Blackbourne
Astoria drops her letter as she turns and looks at Snape with a horrified expression on her face. Snape gets up from her sit and goes to Astoria. He looks at her letter and reads it. His eyes narrowing with each line he read. His eyes go cold at the thought of the love of his life, being taken from him. Snape says with determination in his silky voice, "He will have to go through me to get to you. I will not let him take you away from me. Not when I have finally found love." Snape sighs, "I also promised your mother that I would protect you, and protect you I will." Snape wraps his arms around Astoria protectively. Astoria begins to relax as he held her in his arms.
After a few moments, he lets her go, aware of the students watching them. He gives her shoulders a comforting squeeze and goes back to his seat. Astoria resumes eating, but with less gusto than before. Astoria looks at Snape and said, "Should I tell my mother?" Snape looks at her and replies, "Yes. She has the right to know and perhaps she can assist us on how to properly deal with this." Astoria nods, "Ok. I'll tell her. I'll send this lettter to her, so that she can read for herself. Along with a letter of my own asking, her what we should do." Snape nods in agreement and resumes eating. Thinking of a plan to keep him from taking her away. Astoria resumes eating half-heartedly, wondering what plan her grandfather has in store for her.
After breakfast, Astoria goes to her office and conjures up a vase. She pours water into the vase from her wand, then places the lily in the vase. She sets the vase on her desk, then writes to her mother. Explaining about the letter she received from her grandfather and what she should do about her grandfather. She puts her letter along with her grandfather's letter into an envelope, then heads to the owlery to find her owl. She looks around for Sasha and spots her up in the rafters near Hades. Astoria calls out to her, "Sasha I need you. Please come here." Sasha spreads her wings and flies down to her, landing on the window sill. Astoria smiles as Sasha nuzzles her then looks at her. Astoria said, "Take this letter to my mother. It's very important that she gets it, ok?" Sasha nips her finger affectionately in response. Astoria hands Sasha her letter. Sasha takes the letter in her beak, then turns to the window. Sasha spreads her wings once more and flies out of the window. Astoria watches her go until she was no more, then heads back up to the castle.
Astoria goes straight to Snape's office and knocks. Snape's silky voice was heard as he said in a business-like tone, "Enter." Astoria enters his office, closing the door behind her. Snape looks up and smiles, his voice becoming warm as he said, "Hello Astoria." Astoria smiles back, though she looks nervous as she said, "Hello Severus." Snape puts his quill down and gets up from his desk. He walks to Astoria and hugs her, holding her close as he says, "Please do not worry about your grandfather. I will protect you." Astoria sighs and hold Snape close as she said, "I know, Severus. I am just scared of what his plan might be and why it involves me." Snape sighs, "Based on that letter, he wants to get back at your mother for falling for a muggleborn wizard. He wanted her to marry a half-blood or a pure-blood, not a muggleborn." Snape said bitterly, "Pure-bloods with their pure-blood mania. They never cease to amaze me." Astoria said, "I always feel safe when I'm around you." Astoria looks up at Snape and smiles, "Thank you for wanting to protect me from my grandfather." Snape smiles back as he said, "You're welcome, of course. You are all I have now. If he intends to harm you, then I must protect you." Astoria hugs him close to her. Her head resting on his chest. Snape rubs circle on her back to comfort her. Astoria looks at Snape again and asks, "May I call you Sev? It's just Lily would call you that when you two were friends, and I thought maybe I can call you Sev, too." Snape looks at her and smiles, " Yes you may, my half-blood princess." Astoria smiles, leans up and kisses Snape on the lips. Snape kisses her back and smiles. Astoria puts her head on his chest again as he holds her. Snape hold her close, resting his head on top of hers and said, "I love you, Astoria." Astoria replies back, "I love you too, Sev."