Touch your heart (Severus Snape)

Chapter 14

Christmas time was almost there and I've been invited to spend Christmas holidays on 12 Grimmauld Place with the Weasleys and Sirius, of course, after a reunion with the members of the Order of Phoenix.

I couldn't be happier about this.

But as always, something went wrong.

Harry was having an undesired connection with Voldemort and in the middle of the night, we were awoken when he had a dream about Arthur Weasley being hurt by Voldemort in the Ministry of Magic. And fortunately, they were able to save the poor hurt man.

So, when I arrived the Grimmauld Place, he was happy to be alive and thankful for Harry's' vision and all the family was reunited for a Christmas dinner. But first, we had the reunion.

Dumbledore was the first to talk. "Harry is in a vulnerable moment. He has this connection with Voldemort we can't understand. And we need to cut it. I proposed Severus to teach him Occlumency." There were members nodding with their heads, agreeing with Dumbledore's proposition. "Meanwhile, the recruitment is not going very well. The giants are hard to convince. And the Death Eaters are doing the same as us. We need more allies. Anyone. It could be the one next to you. Someone you trust."

"How can we know who we can trust?" Molly asked.

"You'll know. You'll need to look that person in the eyes and know their full intentions."

Then he proceeded to talk about his plans to gather more forces and when the meeting ended and everyone got up from their seats, Severus turned to me and opened his mouth to talk, - "Angel..." - but Sirius interrupted him and pulled me to the couch.

Fumbling, I looked by the corner of my eyes to him and saw his unhappy look.

"Unfortunately, I cannot stay for your lovely dinner. But I hope you have a Merry Christmas with your family." Dumbledore said before heading for the exit.

"I must leave too," Severus said sternly before turning and leave after Dumbledore.

I got up immediately and still caught him before he closed the front door. Dumbledore looked back and saw me grabbing his arm so he just smiled before disappearing.

"Do you have any Christmas dinner scheduled?"

"No. I don't do Christmas." He said without looking at me in the eyes.

"Well, now you do. Have dinner with us." I asked with a smile on my face. "No one should be left alone this time of the year."

"I've been alone my whole life. Why would it change?" He replied with a bitter tone on his voice, pulling his arm away from my grip.

"Because now you have me. And because I want you to stay."

"It seems to me you already have a good company." I realized who he was referring to. I still don't know what happened between Sirius and Severus, but this was getting out of proportion.

"Why do you act like this?"

"Like what?" He was getting impatient, so as I.

"One moment you almost show emotions and the other you just push me away. You want me away from you?" I asked, too afraid of the answer, cursing myself for asking him that out loud.

He closed his eyes and breathed, looking like he was holding something inside him. "No."

I grabbed his hand and said softly. "So have dinner with us. Besides... I bought you a gift." He looked surprised at me. "Yey, it's no big deal."

"I don't have anything to give you back." He admitted.

I looked at our hands intertwined. "Your presence in this dinner is the best gift you could ever give me."