𝑨 𝑻𝑶𝑼𝑪𝑯 𝑶𝑭 𝑫𝑨𝑹𝑲𝑵𝑬𝑺𝑺

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟗: 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

LILITH HAD WOKEN up to an empty room. After the events of last night, Severus had asked Lilith if she felt comfortable in him patrolling the area once more to ensure that no Death Eaters had wrongfully infiltrated the village. Much to her dismay and secretive want for Severus to stay with her and hold her all the more, she agreed. The fact that he still hadn't been back yet had slightly disappointed her but the poor man was only trying to do something good.

Without Severus in the room she allowed herself to giddily throw herself back down onto the bed as she reminisced the touch of Severus' lips on hers. She could still feel the tingles that he had left and the touch of his lips on her cheek as he had kissed her goodbye before he left. Her sudden appreciation towards Severus was foreign and yet she believed that she had this feeling figured out. She didn't.

But optimism doesn't hurt anyone does it? Wrong. The remnants of pessimism still stood as a dictating yet precautious factor in her life.

If anything, the optimism that she attempted to familiarise herself with confounded her more than her feelings towards Severus. Being optimistic wasn't necessarily a virtue that Lilith beheld and so she didn't know entirely how to approach the mindset. It felt easier for her to resort to her pessimistic ways but if she wanted anything from Severus, it would be undoubtedly unfair to subject him to her pessimistic nature. She needed to try. To try and what? Learn to be optimistic? Learn to be happy? She scoffed. Even on Christmas day her bah humbug attitude lingered in the tinselled walls of the Sleepy Hollow. We have an optimistically pessimistic way ahead of us, she mused to herself.

Looking out the window at the snow which had continued to fall throughout the entire night, she thought about going downstairs to see Mrs Bordeaux. The only thing that deterred her was the knowledge that Mrs Bordeaux could read people like a book, even if that book had all of its pages glued together and was locked with an enchantment. The woman wasn't naive and she would most definitely be able to see through Lilith and easily deduce that something had happened between her and Severus last night. She pulled up her socks as she made way to the lounge area downstairs. Lilith didn't even have the chance to reach the bottom step before Mrs Bordeaux called out to her.

"You have a nice glow." She smirked.

"Ah, Merry Christmas to you too."

"Merry Christmas, dear." though Mrs Bordeaux's voice had very little interest behind those words. She wanted to delve into the events of Severus taking Lilith out last night.

"Must be the Christmas spirit." She shrugged her shoulders back.

"You hate Christmas." Mrs Bordeaux snickered.

"Which makes my glow this year all the more meaningful then."

Mrs Bordeaux eyed Lilith intently, observing her movements which Lilith threatened to crumble under.

Lilith had made herself a cup of water from behind the bar and had shuffled round back to the front of it, seating herself in front of Mrs Bordeaux who continued to clean the area.

"You came back awfully late last night." Mrs Bordeaux had turned her back to Lilith as she swept a shelf underneath the bar.

"It was barely past midnight..." Was is not?

"Actually my sweet, it was nearing pre-emptive dawn."

Lilith squinted her eyes at the woman in a playful manner. "You had multiple rooms available from the start didn't you?"

"Perhaps."

"I knew it! I knew you was up to something you conniving little witch!" She threw the falling layers of hair out of face, exasperated.

"Did it work out in your favour though?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at Lilith.

Pesky little woman. Lilith rolled her eyes at her once more. "If by that you mean an innocent kiss, then perhaps."

Mrs Bordeaux's eyes lit up as Lilith spoke what she had hoped for the night prior. From the moment Lilith had introduced her to Severus, she knew what they both wanted and if they wouldn't give themselves that then she would do all she could to change that. Using the 'there's only one room available' scheme had seemingly worked better than she had anticipated.

"Save an old woman from her suffering and go into every detail. And by every detail I mean all the nooks and crannies. Merlin knows this place needs a good cleaning like that."

Lilith chuckled at the woman's response. For the next hour Lilith explained, in thorough details, the events of last night, ranging from the work of Severus' beautiful Patronus charm all the way to the most awaited kiss and then lastly the chiming of the church bells.

"You danced together? Oh my, dear that is just lovely." Mrs Bordeaux had placed a hand on her heart as she spoke, her eyes stared off into the distance as though she was re-enacting the scene in her own mind.

"Yes." Lilith scrunched up her news in a giddy manor as she too reminisced the waltz that they had both participated in.

"So, where is he now?"

Good question. "He uhm..." Mrs Bordeaux was still unaware of Lilith's true reasoning for being here, to the poor woman it probably still seemed as though she had come by on her travels - the same excuse she would use all those years ago. She had no idea that Severus was patrolling for Death Eaters .

"He's probably on a walk?" She tried to convince herself with that statement more than she had tried to convince Mrs Bordeaux. "He does that a lot. Walks. Strolls. Sways his cloak as he angrily steps out of the room. It's all part of his charm really." That was a half truth. Deceptive but truthful. Truthful deception, most assuredly a phrase no one has sought to use before.

Just as Lilith had opened her mouth to prolong her lie to Mrs Bordeaux who didn't seem convinced at all, Severus had walked through the door holding a paper bag in his hand. He walked over to Lilith, his hand grazing the bottom of her back. He held it there for several moments, indulging himself in the way that Lilith had both stiffened and then relaxed under his touch. She was a soft woman at heart and he secretly wished that she would show that side of herself more often.

"What's in the bag?" She asked as the familiar scent of jam croissants hit her. "You went you Dandelion Delights?" Her voice laced with disbelief. Dandelion Delights was a local bakery with the most delectable croissants. She had always ensured that before her final departure after a meeting in the Deathly Hallows, she would religiously purchase the exact same delicacy. She had actually wanted to take Severus there herself during their stay, but assumed that the place would have been closed for Christmas.

"I'll try not to take that as an insult to my cooking, young man." Mrs Bordeaux had spoken in a playful way yet her eyes locked with Severus' with a deathly glare.

"There's something in there for you too, Mrs Bordeaux. Merry Christmas." His voice was enthusiastic. A little bit too enthusiastic. In all the time Lilith had known Severus he had never spoken with such enthusiasm. Except from when he had mocked her for not being able to open the gate at Hogwarts. She eyed him cautiously as he crouched down slightly to her ear.

"Meet me upstairs." He whispered. Her efforts in not collapsing under the softness of his voice was purely for the sake that she couldn't handle any more interrogations from Mrs Bordeaux. Had the interrogative and highly innovative woman not been stood with her mouth now gaped wide open, she would have most definitely lost herself with his words but for her sake she had to stay composed. Which had proven to be a difficult thing to do when Severus was on a prowl of persuasion.

Severus left the two women with the same look of shock as he walked upstairs not even requiring the need to look back at them. Lilith and Beatrice turned to each other, blinking their way through understanding at Severus' display of care? Affection? Modesty? Polite consumerism?

Whatever it was, it left Lilith with a foggy mind as she bit in the croissant in attempt to restore some sense of what had just unfolded and better yet what Mrs Bordeaux had been witness to.