𝑨 𝑻𝑶𝑼𝑪𝑯 𝑶𝑭 𝑫𝑨𝑹𝑲𝑵𝑬𝑺𝑺

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓𝟖: 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

SEVERUS HAD MOMENTARILY vanished leaving Lilith sat alone in the booth, a lot more aware of her surroundings as the effects of the whiskey had began to tone down. A few hours had passed and the pair had talked almost endlessly. It was foreign to listen to Severus speak so much but it was even more foreign to watch the endless amount of expressions he pulled with it. Lilith was so used to seeing his frowns, straight faces and only the occasional smile. And thus, she had so carefully tried to maintain her own expressions, attempting to not appear so surprised as she watched him.

She rested her head in her hands, staring into the half empty bottle of firewhiskey that shook its contents each time her foot collided with the table leg. Damn firewhiskey. It was a glorious liquid to behold in the moment but most certainly held no glory when dealing with the after effects. Her vision remained somewhat impaired, blurry during her faster movements and seemingly normal when she sat absolutely still. Her head thumped equally faster and louder than the beating of her own heart. It had surpassed being an itch in the head she couldn't quite scratch and had turned into incessant pounding, as though the voice in her head was knocking to be let out instead.

"You look like you need this." Alyssa's voice reached out to her, breaking through the wall of silence she had created to help soothe her headache. Glasses should have most definitely been used.

Alyssa's hand lingered in front of Lilith with a glass of water, she reached out for it, already imagining the sensation of the cold water trickling down her throat. Despite wanting to gulp it profusely, she sipped at the cup lightly. Some class must be maintained.

"Thank you, Aly."

"You're welcome." She replied as she pulled out a chair from a different table, placing it in front of Lilith and seating herself down. "What happened to Mr Blackshirt?"

Lilith smiled into her cup of water, attempting to suppress a laugh. "He won't appreciate you calling him that you know."

Alyssa rolled her eyes playfully at Lilith. "He can bite me." She paused, her eyes narrowing in an interrogative manner. "Not unless that's what you two already do..."

"I'm not giving you an answer to that."

"Oh my Merlin!" She squealed. "So you have! Oh Lilith, you dog."

Perhaps a valiant attempt of self defence was necessary.

"No we haven't done anything." She whispered back, tucking her head away from all of the faces that had turned round to them at the sound of Alyssa's childish squealing. "And can you keep your god damn mouth down, you're like a foghorn."

Alyssa sat back in her seat, folding her arms with a wide smile and raised brow. "I'm going to skip over the part where you said you haven't and focus on the fact you never said you didn't want to."

Alyssa was a kick and a half to the gut. Lilith placed her hands on her face, attempting to rub away the tinges of red that she knew most probably rested in her cheeks. "You kiss your mother with that foul mouth?"

"Every night." She quickly retorted back.

And she overly cocky. Then again it was something Lilith couldn't argue with. Whenever she spoke to Alyssa she felt as though she was staring directly at her reflection in a mirror as they constantly fought in a battle of their wits.

"Where are you parents anyway? It's not like them to leave you in charge of the tavern."

"They come home tomorrow. But apparently they've gone to some beer tasting. They thought it would be a good idea to bring some newer flavours to the tavern, try and lure some newbies in as well as these regulars folk. But between you and me I think they just needed a break."