vulnera sanentur

severus snape. twenty-two. potioneer. janus. death eater.  i'm at home with the ghost who got left in the cold who knocks at my peace with no keys to my soul. var sc_project=11182495; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_security="244678b2"; var scJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://secure." : "http://www."); document.write("");

[prodigious--skill]

“So what if she is?” Bellatrix shrugged, swiping a tulip glass from behind her and shifting to rinse it out. “Our friend here can afford it. Or rather his daddy can. He’s supposed to be some auto industry giant? The neglectful sort, too. Always forgetting birthdays, always missing out on baseball games…” She threw a pointed look in the teenager’s direction, wryly noting the small puddle of drool leaking out onto the bar. “Too many people are under the impression that I give a shit.”

She dunked the glass underneath a tap and waited out the warm rush of ale. “Leave it to teenage rebellion to fund your indoor jacuzzi,” Bellatrix went on, the corners of her lips twitching at Severus’ insinuation. “But I’ll let you know the next time I’m in the mood for some human vivisection. You bring the scalpels, I’ll bring the Bobbys, and we’ll make a whole day out of it.”

His craft beer was slid wordlessly across the table with all the familiarity of two people who had known each other for quite some time now, and none of the animosity their first encounter had actually inspired (she still maintained that the car accident was his fucking fault – and trying to take a tire iron to his windshield hadn’t been ‘overreacting’).

She supposed that was friendship for you.

“Great. Now you and Bobby will get some more time to bond.” Pitching her straw in the rubbish, Bellatrix turned to face him with an expression drawn in pain, brow furrowed as she prepared herself to admit to something that would cause her no shortage of agony. “I might… possibly… be interested in giving Stephen King a try. But I swear to god, if you even think the words ‘I told you so’ I’ll start swinging.”

[severssnpe-blog]

"Just look at him!" He exclaimed quietly, grimacing. "It's like the lights are on - barely - and nobody is home." Bobby really was not looking like a positive advertisement. "Sad story, truly." He waved it off, not really caring about the boy's father. "Something's gotta give, Bella - and it has to be Bobby here. If Molly is indeed selling him my stuff she has to stop." Like many things in life, Severus was picky over his reputation as a supplier, and the gormless twit seated at the bar next to him was far from helping matters. "Ah yes, you are the kindest person I know." He rolled his eyes.

"Indoor jacuzzi? Not quite what I had in mind. I have my eye on a very nice leather jacket from Saint Laurent - far more useful than a jacuzzi in my opinion." A small chuckle escaped him. "A whole day of vivisection - wonderful. I'm sure Dmitri would be able to get hold of some scalpels for us. If we get a tank of ether we can go full Murder House. That's making a day of it."

A hand came up to rest over his heart once he received the beer, his expression scrunched in a parody of being moved. "You do care." He took a long draw from the bottle, setting it back down on the bar. "No." He said a little too quickly. If he had to suffer Bobby then so did Bellatrix. She owed him for smashing up his car, after all.

A slow smirk spread across his face. At long last he had been able to wheedle her day. "Stephen King, you say... Why, today has become a very special day." His mind began to whir over the Stephen King books he had crammed into the bookcase in the flat. "Where do we begin? Perhaps Carrie? It was his first novel and it's not too long. You might get a kick out of that. Or maybe one of his short story collections - I've always liked Four Past Midnight."

[lcnewolfs]

With a snort of laughter, Remus shrugged his shoulders. “Hey, you very easily could be a shitty cop, no one ever made that distinction.” Though there was a small internal sigh of relief upon hearing that the person in front of him - Snape, as he introduced himself as - was not in fact a member of the authorities. Usually the ones to avoid at all costs. He didn’t say anything else for a moment, just tried to pick his brain for a time that Peter might’ve mentioned a guy named Snape. Whether they were actually friends or not. Narrowing his eyes, Remus pulled out his wallet and left a crumpled stack of bills on the top of the bar. “What’s that supposed to mean? I said I haven’t seen him, which means I haven’t seen him. If you’re such a good friend, he’d probably tell you where he was.”

[severssnpe-blog]

"That is very true. But I have far better things to do with my time than push paperwork and wear those godawful hi-vis jackets." Severus shrugged at the other man's question. "Oh, nothing. Just didn't seem quite like the reaction of someone who didn't know Pettigrew, that's all. If I'm not mistaken, he knows a lot of the regulars." Which Severus doubted was some mean feat. He wouldn't have been surprised to find out that the regulars never left the bar - he had the impression that they seemed to lead sedentary lives. "Now, I never said that I was a good friend. Just that I was a friend. There is a difference, you know." He should have just asked Marlene to track Peter down - it would have been so much easier.

[severssnpe-blog]

sevlene + the 1975 - fallingforyou

I don't wanna be your friend, I wanna kiss your neck Don't you see me? I, I think I'm falling, I'm falling for you

{ @lionheartmarlene }

[aneurinbarnardsource]

[severssnpe-blog]

aneurinbarnardsource:

This is Jake. He’s my lawyer.

Oh really? I thought I was the ‘song-and-dance’ man.

[wormfailed-blog]

“I was jokin’, boss man, geez. ‘Course I knew that was some typa… y’know, that thing, idioms and expressions and shit. Saying a thing but actually meanin’ somethin’ else.” Did he get a kick out of annoying the heck out of Severus? Yes. Did he have to expend that much of an effort to get him riled up? No. So really, it was a win-win for his laziness and his enjoyment. It wasn’t like he was that daft to not notice that his existence alone seemed to rub the guy the wrong way, but you know, that was just part of the fun. He liked to think that deep down, perhaps deep deep down, the guy actually liked him. “Writin’ as a career? And what, you’re gonna miss your favorite little worker? Gotta tell you though, I had a lot of dreams, mate. Wanted to be a doctor, an astronaut, wanted to be a boxer once too, loads of things. But the system, you know? The system! It doesn’t work for blokes like me.” He rolled his eyes, turning to the bartender with a look on his face that practically screamed ‘Can you believe this guy?’ “Obviously they got matching birthmarks, boss man. Like, on their thumb and everythin’, you can’t fake that shit so they’ll always know who’s who.”

Peter shrugged his shoulders, looking around the place. The Shade was possibly one of his favorite places in the world and yes, he does mean the world. It had that perfect amount of accepting but also intimidating enough that you second guessed yourself as you walked through the door, wondering if the risk was worth it. And he liked seeing the Old Man Prewett, he was… something. “You don’t gotta be an arse about it though, height’s just a bunch of numbers. They also got all those tattoos and beards and bats and shit, I’d be pretty honored to be beaten to death by ‘em, I reckon.” He chewed at the inside of his cheek, contemplating what he was being told. He’d received the spiel so many times now, he knew what it meant even if Severus tried to thinly veil it. “A’ight, can do, boss man. I always have fun bein’ ‘round your girlfriend and all, she’s a real badass.” Grinning like a wolf, Peter watched Severus for a second before downing his own shot, relishing the burning track down his throat and to his stomach and the slight wooziness it brought to his head. “That’s not true. I could’ve been at the park or at home or any other place.”

[severssnpe-blog]

"Of course you were." He replied, his tone flat. "Really, Peter, your ingenuity is lost here." Severus gestured to the bar lazily with one hand. "With a mind like that you would have fit right in at Cambridge or Oxford." An eyebrow raised. "A real shame." How many shots would he have to down before he stopped feeling like he wanted to gouge his own brain out? Perhaps he could make a bit of a game out of it - each time Peter said something ridiculous Severus would order another shot. Although knowing his luck the shots would be coming in fast. Perhaps it'd be better to pace things a little at first.

A minute shake of his head. "I'm sure I'd be able to survive without you somehow. It may be difficult, but it'd be possible." Difficult his arse. Severus was positive that he would be able to find a better replacement pretty quickly, although he doubted that they would be as frustratingly entertaining as Peter was. He listened with some amount of fake interest, his eyebrows raising at the job selection. Peter was quite the character in Severus' eyes. "Somehow you wanting to be a boxer is the least believable out of all of those. Colour me surprised." He blinked several times at the other man's convoluted logic. Matching birthmarks... being able to tell who was who... Severus didn't quite see it. "Okay then."

Severus followed Peter's gaze around the place, his feelings towards it were the complete opposite. Every surface was sticky, the decor wasn't appealing and the clientele... well the less said about them the better. "If only it were just a bunch of numbers, but it's quite obviously not. Anyone with a pair of eyes can see that." Honoured to be-? Severus' expression scrunched slightly in confusion. That was more than a little strange and he was not particularly clean on delving further down that rabbit hole with Peter. Somethings were better left as mysteries.

"Good." He nodded. "Be at the garage at four in the afternoon, not a minute later than that." Knowing Peter he'd probably still be late. If it came to it he'd probably be able to convince Marlene to fetch Peter on her bike. "That she is." He agreed. "Ah but you would have come here eventually." Severus reasoned. "And I would have stayed here until you did to make sure you got the message."

[lionheartmarlene]

“Honestly, always pushing for the aesthetic. Your dedication is as inspiring as it is downright terrifying. Mary Shelley needs to get onto my level.” Her eyes were careful, yet still managed to be soft as she looked at him. She wished, truly and for the first time in her life, that she was some kind of witch. It would have been simpler if she could wave a wand and make him feel better. To make him feel happy in spite of their conversation would have been a gift she would have loved to give him and her inadequacy to do so was causing her no small amount of frustration. But perhaps it was for the better that there wasn’t a quick fix. That wasn’t how life was meant to work and even considering her profession included bringing an end to people’s lives, she still managed to believe in the idea that things happened for a reason. No matter how much pain they brought.

A completely clean slate was beyond her ability to give, but some kind of new start for them both together was something she was more than willing to give if he wanted it. His introduction made her smile slightly and she took his hand, shaking it very slightly before dropping it again. “Marlene McKinnon, and the pleasure is all mine.” No, something new wasn’t entirely within their grasp, but they could try. “You can have a clean slate with as many parts of your life as you’d like. Including with me, but I’d rather not relive pressing a gun to your head.”

She didn’t know how to describe the nerves pulsing in her veins as she kissed his scars, scared it was the wrong thing, scared that this would break them. Fear was an emotion she’d tried her hardest to rid herself of; a shaking finger made it harder to press a trigger, but when it came to Severus she almost couldn’t help herself. His reply made the edges of her mouth move slightly towards a smile, hoping to comfort him in some way. The scares themselves might not have hurt anymore, but the memories they came with couldn’t have been painless for him. Marlene kept her eyes on his, soft and as comforting as she knew how to be. She welcomed the kiss, returning it in kind though only briefly. She felt as thought there was still so much to say, despite the fact that Severus had seemed incapable of articulating. The emotions that swelled so easily in her heart felt strange and new, but also comforting. As though they’d slowly been building without her having even noticed they were there. Marlene wasn’t used to doubting herself and so, even when the stakes were as high as her own heart, she couldn’t stop herself.

“I love you.” The words were quiet, whispered into the space between their lips, but she felt them throughout her entire being. Her heart had been armour plated her whole life, but in the quiet and the darkness of his childhood living room, it was out in the open; all her love bared for him to see.

[severssnpe-blog]

"I've told you before - the aesthetic is very important." Severus replied in earnest, mildly insulted. "All you have to do is look at my instagram feed to see that. It's all very cohesive." He nodded."Ah yes, Mary Shelley should definitely get on your level. We'll find out where she buried and go tell her just that. Does that sound like a plan to you?" Severus could only imagine how successful it would be. Maybe they'd have to break out a ouija board or some of the hi-tech stuff favoured in one of their favourite ways to while away the early hours, Ghost Adventures.

A corner of his mouth tipped upwards briefly in a poor attempt at a smile at their reintroductions. They wouldn't change anything but he wished that they would. "I can't say that I'm all that keen on repeating that either." Although it was certainly wasn't the worse thing that had happened to him - he got Marlene out of it, after all. "Who knows where we would be if it hadn't have happened." He could appreciate it that much at the very least. They certainly wouldn't have been sitting on the floor in the living room of the house he grew up in, that was for certain. Severus probably would still would have been carrying on with the business, although he doubted that he and Marlene would have met in other circumstances. Or at least not at that time. They knew quite a few of the same people so there was a chance there.

Her words ricocheted around his mind, striking him dumb. No one had ever said that to him before - not Lily, not even his own mother. He almost wanted to ask if she was playing a trick on him - his eyes searching her face for proof - but her expression told him everything he needed to know. She meant it. She loved him. There was no doubt that he felt the same - he wouldn't have been baring his darkest secrets to her if he didn't. It wasn't something that he had to question. He had always struggled with letting people in, preferring to keep them away with carefully pieced together insults, figuring that he wouldn't get hurt if he didn't get close. The same couldn't be said for his relationship with Marlene, at least not after he got to know her a little better after their disastrous initial meeting. It took him a while, but he was able to eschew his fears of vulnerability and let his guard down, even if it was still with some amount of trepidation.

Knowing that he loved her was only half the battle. Saying those four words was something else entirely. It was something difficult for him to admit, even without the fear of being rejected. "I-" He began, cupping her cheek with a hand. Why was it still so hard for him to admit out loud when he knew that she felt the same? As if he couldn't get more pathetic in that moment. Taking a slightly shaky breath, he set his jaw and looked her in the eye. "I love you too."

[1975bitch]

Visit Original Link

probably one of my absolute favourite The 1975 songs ever 

[severssnpe-blog]

{ @lionheartmarlene }

[lionheartmarlene]

“Knowing my terrible timing, I’d probably miss something truly unbelievable. Like the attempted hostile takeover of London by the pigeons.” She was always more than ready to dial up the lunacy in their conversations. Her eyebrows raised when he picked Pippin up, though a rogue smile crept onto her lips when she realised what he was doing. At the question she simply shook her head, picking the puppy up again and pressing a kiss to his head in apology before holding him at her arms length. “Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? Your gambols? Your songs? Your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning?” Marlene winked at Severus before briefly cuddling Pippin and placing him back on the floor. “I would have been more impressed if you had sung the opening lines to the Lion King. Memorising that portion of Hamlet is just so common.”

Her face dropped into a mock pout when he called her a menace, mostly because she was well aware that even if he did think that of her, it didn’t damage the positive associations he had with her. “But murder is what I do. And I’m so good at it.” She smiled brightly, almost laughing at his teasing. “That’s the secret of it all, you don’t put up with me, you adore me. Besides, I’ve never held dirt over your head, just a gun at it.” She shrugged her shoulders at his warning. “You and I both know that flattery will get me everywhere. Even with you and your strange immunity to my sparkling personality.”

“I really don’t see why you dislike Ikea so much. I love it in there, though it does sometimes feel like several years have passed. I’m sure Pippin won’t do any really dramatic damage.” She knew Severus was worrying without even having to look at him and her eyes rolled almost of their own accord. “I love the Shade. People like my bike there. And you know you don’t ever have to look for Peter, I’d be more than happy to drag him to the garage any time you wanted to see him.” She started walking down the road in the direction of the bar. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone more surprised than him when he clocked I was your girlfriend.”

[severssnpe-blog]

"Ah yes, you might regain consciousness just in time to see our new feathery overlord invested at Westminster Abbey." Pigeons... it was always the pigeons. Severus wouldn't be surprised if he developed a nervous twitch around pigeons before long with the amount of utter lunacy about the birds had come up in his and Marlene's conversations. He offered Marlene a small round of applause, his head shaking. "Hamlet's more me than the Lion King is, I'm afraid. Do I really look like the kind of guy who sings Disney songs on the regular?" He raised an eyebrow. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen a Disney film - he vaguely remembered going with Lily to see the Haunted Mansion movie years ago. "I'm terribly sorry to disappoint. Perhaps you could do the honours for us? I'm sure you know every single word to the Circle of Life." His arms crossed over his chest. Now this would be something. That is, if she rose to the challenge.

"Truly gifted." He replied dryly. Not that being skilled at murder was something to brag about exactly - could lead to more problems than it was worth, if you asked him. Severus couldn't even refute what she said - Marlene had hit the nail on the head. He did adore her. "Of course, how could I forget that?" He rolled his eyes. "Defining moment of my existence. Can't exactly say that staring down the barrel of gun makes it into my top ten favourite moments. It was quite middling, really. Defining, but middling." He couldn't say that he wanted to repeat it - having his life flash before his eyes once was depressing enough, he certainly didn't need the reruns. "My immunity means that you get nowhere."

Where would he begin? "For starters, it's like a bloody maze in there. If I fancied a maze I'd go to Hampton Court. Secondly, you always end up spending way more than you intend. You just pick things up as you go along. They lure you in with the low prices and variety and next thing you know you've spent a couple hundred quid and you can't fit half of it in the car." He was sure that he had more reasons but those would suffice. "Well I don't. It's so..." He grimaced. "And what's with the old man in the speedos? Ugh. I'll keep that in mind in the future." A small smile tugged at his lips. "I'm sure he made quite the sight. I'm disappointed you didn't send me a snap."

[behaveorelsie-blog]

“Still. It’s just kind of sad, it reminds me how much I missed the past year I was away.”

[severssnpe-blog]

“Sad?” He sneered. “I think you need to reevaluate if you think building work is sad.”

[lionheartmarlene]

“That’s definitely comforting. Hatred for the cold does wonderful things for making sure you don’t die in the arctic.” Considering she had started the conversation, she felt honour bound to finish it on some kind of positive note. “I’ll read it when we take it home with us. It’ll be next on my list. Just so I can feel inadequate that at the same age, Mary Shelley was writing a classic and I was learning how to most effectively murder people.”

Marlene was determined that although this would inevitably change things between them, she wouldn’t let it ruin things. She didn’t know how it might try and ruin things, but knowledge was strange in that way that no-one could control what it could do. “No, I don’t suppose it would. I’m sucking at being helpful right now, I know.” She felt bad, but truly she had no idea what was the right way to talk to him about the things he was telling her. She didn’t know what was the appropriate way to react or what was the right thing to say. Some part of her brain wondered whether even he knew what was the right way for her to react. Wondered if he’d ever had to tell this story to someone before and if he had, where that other person was in his life. “It can be a clean slate. A new start, if you want it to be.” All she knew was that she wanted whatever might make him happy. After everything he had been through, she knew that much; he deserved to be happy.

She managed to keep her gasp swallowed down and the tears she could feel burning her eyes luckily remained trapped in her eyes. Her hands, so often touching to hurt, were the gentlest they’d ever been as she took his arm with one hand. Her free hand traced the scars after his finger, the touch as light as to be that of a feather. For a few moments she didn’t move and the only sound in the room was both of their breathing. Her eyes moved to look at his face, seeing that he was looking away from her and knowing that there was nothing she could say that would make him believe that this didn’t change how she felt about him. Her head bent forward over his arm, her lips pressing for the briefest moment to the scar nearest his wrist. Slowly and deliberately, she pressed a kiss to every scar she could find before just as slowly pulling back, persuading herself to look up at his face. “I don’t want them to hurt anymore. I don’t want you to hurt anymore.”

[severssnpe-blog]

"It really does. Although," He began. "the months of constant darkness would fit in with my instagram aesthetic quite nicely." That was one of the only upsides Severus could see. "Good. And then you can join me in lamenting the fact that there hasn't been a single accurate adaptation. Honestly, I don't see what's so hard about that. Swings and roundabouts. Somehow I doubt that Mary Shelley would have been able murder people in quite the variety of ways you can."

Severus shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know if there even much of a way for you to be helpful. I mean, it's not as if you're a witch. There's no wand waving that would change things and make them better. It's not how it works." And in his opinion it would be ridiculous if things worked that way. They weren't living in children's stories, after all. A clean slate. What he would do to have one of those. He knew that a completely clean slate was impossible - he'd have to start over from scratch somewhere new for that to be possible - but they could still try for some semblance of a clean state. "That'd be good." He sighed softly. "Sev Snape. Nice to meet you." He attempted to joke, but the humour quickly fell flat in the sombre mood of the room. "We can try. As long as it's just a clean slate with them. There are some things I'd rather not start fresh on." Getting a proper job was one of those things he'd rather avoid.

His teeth sank into his lower lip at the feel of her fingers against his scars, desperately stopping himself from yanking his arm away from her touch. Severus knew that he didn't deserve Marlene. Casting a glance at her out of the corner of his eyes as her head bowed, his breath hitched as her lips pressed against his scars. He really didn't deserve her. "They don't hurt anymore." He answered quietly. She was still there. Marlene had done the exact opposite of what Severus had been anticipating, and it meant more to him than he could say. He swallowed heavily, his mouth dry and his heart hammering away in his chest. "I - I-" He stammered, completely at a loss for words. So much for him always having an answer for everything - what could he say to that? Taking a breath to steady himself, he leant forward and pressed his lips to her, hoping that the kiss would say everything he couldn't verbalise.

[drownedintofiction]

[aneurinbarnardsource]

Happy Welsh Wednesday

[alteramentum-x-blog]

“I should feel lucky that I don’t know this guy?” Roxanne smirked and took another sip from her glass, setting it down on the counter and glancing around for a guy in a beanie. Not here, obviously, but at least she looked like she was trying. “I shouldn’t hope for him? Well if I don’t, who will? By the way you’re talking, sounds like he needs it.”

[severssnpe-blog]

"Did I stutter?" He sneered, his expression dark. "I didn't think so." Severus resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Was the girl stupid? God, did he need a cigarette. He'd light one up on his way to the tube, that much was certain. "He's a lost case. Completely hopeless. He'd lose his head if it wasn't attached to his neck."

[behaveorelsie-blog]

“Because I grew up in London, I should be able to recognize it but I don’t, not really. Even Seoul wasn’t so confusing.”

[severssnpe-blog]

“Growing up somewhere and being able to recognise it just fine after a long time away only happens when you come from the arse-end of nowhere. London’s always changing.”

[thingwithfeathers]

[severssnpe-blog]

{ @lionheartmarlene }

[behaveorelsie-blog]

“I know I was only in Korea for a year, but everything looks different and it’s confusing.”

[severssnpe-blog]

“I don’t know why you sound so surprised. It’s London - the building work is never over.”

[lionheartmarlene]

“Maybe it would be best, I couldn’t stand to miss a moment of your delightful company. It would be too sad to even comprehend, I think I’m tearing up already.” She patted under her eyes, despite the skin there being bone dry. His comment made her narrow her eyes slightly, more than aware of when he was taking the piss out of her. “You know, I think they would. And seeing as you want them so badly, you can be the one to go and win them. I can see you on the stage singing some song about how terrible life is. I’m sure you’d be a smart ass even when playing a character on stage.”

Making him laugh, even a little bit, never failed to make Marlene smile and she gave a lopsided grin when she heard his chuckle. “Repercussions is no longer a word in this house, it’s official. You’re going to have to come up with another word the next time you’re trying to threaten me.” She always delighted in making them lose the beginnings of their conversations, especially when she knew that no-one else would be able to follow her trains of thought as easily as Severus did. She looked over at him to see his lip curling and she raised an eyebrow in response. How he managed to nail the expression of a spoilt child she’d never know, but it really was uncanny. “And I’ve always maintained that we both lack souls. So really, I was complimenting you. You’re as interesting as Angel was when he lost his soul.”

“If he does, it won’t be anything we can’t replace.” She thought as she headed down the stairs, not letting go of his hand to make sure they kept moving. “Why don’t we go to Happiness Forgets? The barman owes me a free drink and it’s only five minutes away. Then we can walk to Old Street and get the tube straight to Bank.” She nodded, happy with her plan and started walking, giving Severus little to no time to object. “The last thing we want is to miss the tour and I do love Happiness Forgets. Depending on when the tour finishes, we could always go to Cahoots after. Or The Shade.”

[severssnpe-blog]

"We can't have you missing a single moment. Who knows what you might miss?" He raised an eyebrow at her suggestion. "Maybe I will. I'll take the stage by storm, and then the screen. That Benedict Cumberbatch will be out of a job in no time." He picked Pippin up, clearing his throat melodramatically. Severus held the puppy at arms length, his expression sombre. "Alas, poor Yorick!" He cast a quick glance towards Marlene. "I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fantasy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times;" he recited. "and now how abhorred in my imagination it is!" He suppressed a grin before setting Pippin down on the sofa, ruffling the fur on the top of the puppy's head. "Impressed?"

"Consequences should do fine." He held a finger up in warning. "Don't even think about it. If you absolutely murder that word we will be out of options. You, madam, are an absolute menace." A menace she very well may be, but she was by far his favourite menace. "Sometimes I don't know how I even put up with you. What dirt are you holding over my head, hmm?" He teased. "Of course that's what you meant. Although, let me just make it clear that flattery - or a misguided attempt at it - will get you nowhere. No souls? Yes, I fully believe that. Angel? No." He would not give up the fight just yet - not until Marlene gave up with comparing him to Angel.

"True, but that won't stop it from being annoying. I'd prefer to not have to spend an afternoon in ikea because of him - we'd never been seen again... we'd simply cease to exist in the middle of the marketplace." Severus followed along behind her, casting a wary glance over his shoulder at their door. "Well, if he owes you a drink..." He trailed off, knowing that the decision had already been made for them. Happiness Forgets it was. "We are not going to The Shade. I'm putting my foot down there. That place is only good for doing business. Lord knows I have to go there to look for Pettigrew enough."