chapter 1

“I thought we might take a trip to Hogsmeade today” Severus said, thoughtfully sipping his morning coffee while turning to the next page of The Daily Prophet. I instantly stopped smearing strawberry jam on my toast, my face beaming. He smirked at my uncurbed enthusiasm.
“I need to let a few robes out at Madame Malkins. My new houself has done a nice job fattening me up over summer” Severus let out a sigh, and I noticed how the buttons of his robe were straining over a well-fed belly which hadn´t been there just a couple of months ago, when I had left Hogwarts for the summer holiday. The houself Blinky, who now was filling up Severus silver plate with even more bacon, smiled apologizingly to her master, and hurried away. Severus firmly folded the Prophet, resting his eyes on me. “And I reckon you could use a new school uniform miss Avory. Your old one was a disgrace by the end of last term. Stains from failed potions and burned wholes from I don´t know what. We can´t have you looking like that at Hogwarts now, can we darling”.
My heart was racing with the prospects of spending an entire day in Hogsmeade with Severus.
“Can we go to Zonkers too, Professor? Please?”
“Now now” he said in a low, reprimanding voice, but I could see him supressing a smile “Go up and find yourself some warm clothes, its chilly outside today”

I abandoned my toast and pumpkin juice and hurried upstairs, the old staircase squeaking under my feet.
“Merlin, what´s the rush… At this hour..!” a portait of an old hag yawned as I flashed by.
In my bedroom, I quickly pulled off my Puddlemore United pyjamas and went through the few pieces of clothing I owned, stuffed in my trunk. I vaguely remembered asking Blinky to wash my one and only stinking T-shirt, which now was nowhere to be found of course. I had no choice but to wear the brown moth eaten sweater, which felt terribly itchy against my bare skin. I pulled on a pair of hideous mustard coloured manchester trousers, tightened the belt around my waist (the trousers were at least three sizes too big), grabbed my jeans jacket under the arm, and went down to the hallway.

“Ready to go, Professor!”
Severus smacked his lips disapprovingly.
“Well, why am I not the slightest surprised. You´ll be absolutely freezing in that muggle rubbish, girl.”
He gestured to me to follow him, as he turned around and made his way through the corridor, his cloak billowing behind him. He opened a creaking door to a room I recognized must be his private chamber. I had never been there before and couldn´t help but feeling slightly uneasy, as I glanced around the dimly lit room. An ebony writing desk was piled with books and parchment. On the wall hung a silvery mirror, where indistinct shadows were moving about. On a night table next to a canopy bed with heavy dusty drapes, something that looked like a two headed eel was floating in a jar.
“Well that’s an odd taste of decoration” I muttered under my breath. Ignoring this comment, Severus waved his wand, and the lock of an oak wardrobe clicked opened. Tenderly, he let his fingers slide over the pieces of clothing. He seized a midnight blue velvet sweater and held it up in front of me, tilting his head slightly.
“Gosh, you´re gonna be drowning in this one.”
He eyed each garment in the wardrobe critically while casting side way glares at me, sizing me up. Finally, he stopped at something emerald green.
“Ah. This might do it, my old school sweater. Kept it as a memory”
The soft wool was warm in my hands, I could sense a vague scent of lavendel from it. The Slytherin snake was embroidered on the chest.
“Go on, girl. Try it on.”
Something in Severus´ voice left no room for disobedience. I slowly struggled myself out of my own worn out sweater, painfully aware of the fact that I had nothing underneath it. With blushing cheeks, I tried to ignore Severus´ observing gaze. I knew I must be quite a sight; the summer at the orphanage hadn´t really been kind to me. I had always been on the thin side, but now I was basically gaunt, despite the last weeks I had spent at Spinners End with Severus. The contour of my ribcage was clearly visible as I stretched out to pull off the sweater over my head. As if this wasn´t enough, scars were running all over my torso. Most of them old and whitened, but a few pink ones were not yet fully healed. Severus placed his cool fingertips on my chest, tracing one of the particularly nasty ones with his index finger. I held back a wince and clenched my teeth.
“So… When are you gonna tell me… Who did this to you?”
I looked down, avoiding his inspecting dark eyes. He put his hand under my chin, firmly forcing me to meet his gaze.
“You need someone to take care of you” he whispered. I felt a sudden wave of warmth between my legs.
“Oh” He said, his thin lips curled in a sneer, as if he knew exactly what kind of sensation was running through my mind. “Is that so?” With a decisive pull, he tugged back the right hand sleeve of his robe, and without further ado, he slid his hand into my trousers. I panted.
“P-professor..!”
He lift an eyebrow.
“Yes, miss Avory?” He said in the same casual voice as he would use to a student asking a question about potion ingredients in his dungeon. “Is something the… matter?”