Serendipity [Book 2]

It's Halloween! [Pt. 3]

Severus looked around the room with mild disdain. Gryffindor colors were everywhere. Flags, pennants, and Ariella’s old chaser uniform hung on the walls. Then there were the pictures. Hundreds of pictures littered the wall and bookshelves and Ariella was in almost every single one. His eyes swept the pictures and stopped on a picture he had forgotten about. A younger Ariella and he were sitting by the lake with Lily, smiling. Well Lily and Ariella were smiling. They were about 12 in the photograph. He saw another when he and Ariella were fifteen and they were standing with Professor Slughorn. The rest of her younger day photos were with the Marauders and Lily. He scowled at the picture of Ariella, James, Sirius, and Remus waving at the camera with wide grins on their faces.

“Ah-ha, found them!” Ariella exclaimed suddenly as Severus turned to her with a quirked eyebrow.  He was surprised to see an armful of folded pieces of parchment being dropped onto the top of her desk.

“You confiscated all of these?”

“Yep. Your Slytherins are really bad about writing notes in my class,” Ariella replied with a smile. Severus rolled his eyes at her insinuation.

“Come on. It’ll be fun,” Ariella urged as she pulled Severus toward her desk. Severus sighed as he lifted a note and flicked his wand against it so it revealed its contents. Ariella leaned over to read it with him.

Oi, Professor Cross sure is hot.

Bloody hell. I’d like to dip my quill in her ink pot,

“OI! That’s disgusting!” Ariella exclaimed as she scrunched her nose up. Severus chuckled.

“These are teenage boys, Cross,” Severus excused as Ariella turned to him in surprise. It was rare Severus defended any of the students, even if they were Slytherin.

“You’re defending them?” She asked. Severus smirked.

“I’m merely stating that you are distracting,” he replied as Ariella stared at him. Before she could object, Severus captured her lips with his own. Ariella was stunned for a moment before she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer to his body. When they pulled away, Ariella smiled softly.

“Am I really all that distracting?” She asked. Severus smirked as he released her.

“Very much so, Cross,” he responded with a purr. He leaned past her and set the note ablaze. Ariella didn’t object. The rest of the note was extremely vulgar. Ariella easily picked up another and tapped it with her wand.

So did you ever shag Everson?

No. The sodding girl wants to take it slow

Get her drunk, mate.

She may not be worth all this effort

Have you seen her arse?

I’ve seen all of it

Severus rolled his eyes as he set this note aflame. Ariella’s nose scrunched up as she remembered hearing a similar conversation between Sirius and James long ago.

“Alright, I’m beginning to regret this idea,”  she mumbled more to herself than her companion. Severus chuckled.

“Did Potter go to Hogsmeade?” Severus asked suddenly as Ariella quickly shook her head.

“No. His aunt and uncle didn’t sign his permission slip and neither did I. He’s safer here, I think.  He’s with Remus today,” Ariella answered with a soft smile. Severus nodded as he picked up another note. This one he discovered wasn’t really a note. It was a list of classes.