Serendipity [Book 2]

It's Christmas [Pt. 3]

“Hey Snark! Have you been avoiding me?” Severus looked up as Ariella stood in front of his desk with her arms folded across her chest. A scowl was set across her otherwise breathless features. Her cheeks and nose were red from the cold outside and he could still see melting snowflakes in her curls.

“My life does not revolve around you, Cross,” Severus replied grumpily. Ariella shook her head as she dropped a small package on his desk. He looked up just as she was walking out of his office. He was stunned. Then he was furious…with himself. He looked down at the gift and felt his heart plummet to his stomach. She had thought of him. She had come to him and had intended on giving him his present and probably giggling at his reaction.

“It suits you, Snark,” he imagined she’d say when he pulled out a scarf with bats on it or something just as idiotic. The box, he noticed, looked too small to hold a scarf. He gently lifted the lid and froze when he saw what was inside. It was a ring. A silver ring with a doe on the top. The doe’s eyes, he noticed instantly, were green emeralds.

Lily, he automatically thought. Had Ariella known? How could she have? No one else knew. Not even Dumbledore had known until he had told him. His finger grazed the top before he noticed a card underneath the ring.

Severus,

 I know we fight a lot. I know you get frustrated with me a lot and I know you’d, more times than not, like to hang me from the rafters by my thumbs. Thank you for being a friend to me, even when you didn’t have to be. Thank you for caring so much for me. Thank you for letting me be myself around you. You are my best friend.

Ariella

He felt his heart stop. You are my best friend. How could he possibly be her best friend? He didn’t know anything about her past or her life. He finally noticed a post-script at the bottom of the letter.

P.S. I know this won’t make it easier, but I thought you’d like the emeralds.

P.S.S. I always knew.

He let the note fall from his hands. She had always known? When had she figured it out? It was then he realized something. She had gotten close to him when no one else dared. She had known he was hurting. She had known that he cared even when he didn’t show it.

“I don’t always like being a Cross, you know. Sometimes I’m not proud of my friends. I just want to be my own person,” Ariella’s words drifted into his mind from a distant memory. Ariella had gotten close to him in school. She had been a friend when he had only had Lily. Is that how she had known? Then he had betrayed her. The memory burned in his heart. The look across her face when she had realized the truth. It was because he was her friend, or at least she had considered him as such. Before he could stop himself, Severus was on his feet and practically racing down the hallway in an attempt to catch up with Ariella. He found her at the top of the staircase leading away from the dungeons.

“Cross!” He called out. Ariella froze mid-step as the paintings around them leaned in to watch them.

“Severus, you really don’t…”

“When did you figure it out?” He asked suddenly as he turned her to face him. Ariella stared at him with wide eyes.

“I don’t remember exactly. I never told anyone, I promise,” she replied instantly, afraid he was angry with her. Before she knew it, she found herself pressed against his chest with his arms wrapped tightly around her body. She stood in stunned silence. It wasn’t her first hug with the Potions Master. However, it was the first hug he had ever initiated.

“Aren’t you mad?” She asked after the surprise had worn off.

“No,” he simply answered before he pulled away from her. He could see the relieved confusion spread across her features.

“Are you sure you’re Severus Snape? You aren’t Peeves or Remus or someone?” Ariella watched an annoyed expression flit across her companion’s features as he quirked an eyebrow at her skeptically. It was a look that Severus Snape had perfected and used regularly.

“Guess that proves that,” she mumbled as she ran her hand through her curls. Severus watched her for a moment before turning to head back to the dungeons.

“Are you coming, Cross?” He called out when he noticed she wasn’t following him. Ariella looked surprised before she jogged to catch up with him.

“Why am I following you?” She asked suddenly just as they reached his office. Severus smirked as he moved to stand in front of his trunk. Ariella tilted her head to the side; her curls slid over her shoulder. In the low light of his office, her eyes seemed to swirl with some kind of hidden magic. It was a trait that Severus had yet to uncover the secret of. He didn’t know if it was the light, or her eyes, or maybe she had some inane magic in her body that seemed to show through her amethyst orbs.

“Severus?” Severus pulled out his wand and gave it a simple wave before his trunk opened and the gift he had gotten her floated into the palm of his hand.  He turned and watched her eyes widen.

“Is that a gift? For me?” Ariella questioned as Severus nodded. She quickly snatched it out of his hand. A look of pure elation came across her features and Severus was struck by the power of it. He even forgot to breathe as he watched her run her fingers over the top of the box.

“Oh, Severus…” She whispered before she lifted the lid easily. Ariella felt her breath hitch in her throat when she saw what was inside. Inside the small box was a gold-plated, jewel-encrusted, intricate lion’s head attached to a gold chain. She noticed instantly that the lion’s eyes were amethysts. Her finger skimmed the realistic snout of the lion and cringed when it snapped at her, drawing blood. She watched the pendant absorb what little blood there had been and blinked her eyes. As did the lion.

“Severus, how…wha…” Ariella couldn’t even form words to express her feelings.

“It connects with the wearer. Until the day you die, it will be connected to you. It’ll showcase your true emotions or allow you to give it to someone so they know you are safe,” he explained stoically. Severus watched Ariella look up from the necklace to him and tears were puddled in her eyes. He frowned.

“If you don’t like it…”

“I love it. Oh, Severus, thank you,”