Viviane smiled at him in her baby way. It was only a few more days until her first birthday, and there had still been no word of Morgan.
Severus didn’t return his daughter’s smile, but he watched her intently as she used another chair to pull herself up. She took a few tottering steps toward him, without any aid, she caught his leg for support.
“It’s hard to believe that Morgan has missed watching her first steps,” Molly appeared in the doorway.
Severus didn’t respond. He patiently untangled the leg of his trousers from his daughter’s grasp. “Will you watch her for a few days?” He knew he didn’t have to ask, but he always did.
“Of course Severus, I know how busy the Order keeps you,” Molly ignored the fact that half the time Severus was away he was searching for Morgan. He refused to speak of it to her or to anyone else.
He left early the next morning. Of all the leads he had gotten, this was by far the most intriguing. After exhausting his resources in Great Britain he had moved on to the mainland. While there he had happened across an old nemesis who also happened to be an old friend.
He had joined Eric in his customary seat, high in the wings of the famous opera house. Both men disillusioned to keep any of the Muggles from noticing their whereabouts. They didn’t have to worry about being overheard, the swell of music that accompanied the ballet took care of that.
And so Severus found himself on the shores of Ireland. The sea beat the pebbly shore fiercely this morning and grey clouds loomed in the east, threatening what yet had the promise of being a fine day. And there, close to the waters edge, was the cottage he had been told to look for. It was grey and weather beaten. The shutters hung at curious angles. Yet a cheery column of smoke issued forth from the stone chimney, seeming to proclaim that hospitality would be found within.
A young girl played at the front steps making piles of rocks. Her black hair looked almost blue in the light. When she caught sight of Severus approaching she jumped up and ran into the cottage. A small round woman came to stand in the doorway. Her hair was as grey as the clouds in the east and her face as weather-beaten as the cottage in which she lived. But her eyes were like the sea, constantly moving and brilliant.
“We don’t take kindly to solicitors here young man,” she didn’t seemed at all threatened by Severus’ sudden appearance.
“I wouldn’t imagine that many solicitors find their way here,” Severus replied, voice carefully neutral. The cottage was heavily warded. It was easy enough for him to find it, but no Muggles and not many wizards would be able to do the same.
The old woman snorted, “come in and have a cuppa if you must, and then you’ll be on your way again.” The girl peered out from behind her broad skirts. “Along with you now, Meara, back to your mud pies.”
“Your granddaughter?” Severus asked as he was led into the plain kitchen. It was a room that was obviously lived in. There were three chairs drawn up to the table in the center.
“Aye.”
“Do you raise her all on your own?”
“Tisn’t all my own doing, but for the most part yes. My husband, god rest his soul, has been dead these fifteen years. My son died when the girl was still a baby.”
Severus waited until a sturdy mug of tea was in front of him to continue with his true purpose. “I’m looking for a young woman, perhaps you’ve seen her?”
“There are any number of young women in the village over the hill.”
“A young witch.”
“Would that be a noun or an adjective?” the woman asked with a kindly smile.
“That would depend upon the occasion,” Severus returned dryly.
“I haven’t seen her in the village.”
“I asked if you have seen her, not if you had seen her in the village.”
“You’re awfully sharp for a man.”
“You’re predictably meddlesome for a woman.”
She chuckled as she poured her own mug of tea. “I suppose that with a wave of your wand you could have me spilling all my secrets, and Squib that I am I’d be defenseless against ye… so I’ll opt for open honesty. You’ve come seeking your wife?”
Severus nodded.
“Then I’ll ask that you leave here again. Know that she is safe, but that she’ll not be leaving with you.”
“I’m afraid that her remaining here is not a possibility. She will return with me.”
“Have you no respect for the girl’s feelings?”
“I have every respect…!”
“You did your best to kill whatever passion she had left inside of her!”
“I need her!”
The woman sat back, “you love her.” She shook her head sadly, “I’m afraid it’s too late for that now.”
“You told me she was safe,” Severus started to rise to his feet.
“She’s safe in body, I can’t speak for her heart or her soul. And I will not hand her over to you. We owe her a debt.” Her gaze moved to the window, out of which Meara was visible, playing happily in the dirt.
“She’s not human.”
“Half. Her fool father got it into his head that he was in love with a selkie. He forced her to live up here. She died soon after the girl was born, pining for the sea. He followed her soon afterwards, though not for any such noble reasons. Twas the bottle that did him in.”
“And the debt?”
“Your wife saved my granddaughter’s life. Tis a long story, so I’ll not bother you with the details.” She poked at the embers in the hearth, “hate mongering and prejudice are terrible things.”
“Please, return my wife to me.”
She sighed, “it’ll be up for the girl to decide, I’ll not force her one way or t’other.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll just step up the path a ways and see if she isn’t on her way back.”
When the old woman slipped out the door Meara slipped back in.
“Are you going to take Morgan away?” She asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m her husband.”
“Is that all?”
“Isn’t it enough?”
“She says that you don’t love her. She says that she did something terrible and you’ll never be able to forgive her.”
“It was I that made the mistake, not her.” He looked up from Meara’s grey eyes and straight into Morgan’s brown ones. He cringed at the way she stiffened. “Morgan,” he rose to his feet, and she took a step backwards, “come home.”
She shook her head, “I don’t belong there.”
Severus noticed that Meara and her grandmother had vanished. “I need you.”
“No you don’t. You’ll manage just fine with Viviane…” her voice broke.
Severus saw a potential bargaining chip. “She’s learned to walk. Come home to be with our daughter,” how he longed to beg her to come back to him.
Morgan shook her head, “the law forbids me to take her, and I won’t live with a man who hates me.” She struggled to hide her tears.
“Mercy… her fate wasn’t your fault Morgan. And the way in which I spoke to you then… that was neither acceptable nor did what I say hold a single grain of truth.”
“I don’t belong there anymore,” Morgan said sadly. She longed to tell Severus how much she had loved him, how much she loved him still.
“Morgan, I’m doing my best to ask and not command.”
Morgan looked out at the sea, “why do you want me to come back?”
“Because I can’t imagine leaving here without you.”
It was enough. It wasn’t a declaration of love. It didn’t erase the hurtful words spoken in the past. But Morgan realized that she would have to take it for what it was. She hung her head.
Severus cupped her chin in his hand and raised it back up. “I have never known you to give up so easily. Has the Gryffindor courage been replaced with cowardice and defeat? You appear to be nothing more than an empty shell of your former self.” Morgan tried to look away, but he caught the flash of anger in her eyes. “Or perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps the passionate, albeit a trifle too opinionated, woman I married is still in there somewhere.”
“What do I have to be passionate about?” Morgan choked out. “You criticized me, you belittled me, you tried to make me into the perfect little death eater’s wife! You want my submission, you don’t want me!”
“I was harsh at times,” Severus admitted, at which Morgan snorted in disgust, “but you always knew that I was not a kind man. And however badly I may have handled you and our relationship, my first thought was always for your safety. I did not want to see you hurt, although it appears that I was the one who hurt you most of all. Come back with me Morgan. Let us try again.”
Morgan tried to stifle a sob. She was torn. Did she go back with her husband or did she stay here? She shook her head, “I don’t think I can…”
Severus picked up Morgan’s small hands and cradled them within his, he found that he couldn’t force her. He didn’t want to break her spirit by doing that to her. “If you change your mind, I will be waiting for you.” He bent down and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. He wanted more, much more, but he held himself in check. “I have loved you for so long, Morgan, I can only hope that you will forgive me and come back to me.”