CHAPTER FOUR: Selling Souls and other conversations

The waitress had left to go hysterically cry some more. The two of them returned to face the rest of their conversation. Ariel smiled at him, and from what he could tell, it was very genuine. He returned one to her and didn't regret wasting it like he usually did when he smiled once a year.

He spoke first: "I didn't know the merfolk knew about the different types of beers."

"Where you think the phrase 'drinks like a fish' came from? Back in the day, we used to put pirates to shame!" (Her sense of humor was beginning to be his favorite thing about the young woman) "But I honestly thought Coronas were a Muggle beer before I came to the Wizarding World."

"Actually, it's funny you know how it's known for being the 'King of Mexican beers'? Well that's because it really was made by the King of Mexico. Well, the Magical Mexico anyway. The real one's just full of poverty and sadness."

"Magic Mexico had a king?"

As if anything in that sentence wasn't already hard to believe Snape went on to explain, "Back in the 1500's, Chupacabras destroyed the King's city and ate his cousin. A war ensued, but the King decided using his wand was too easy on them. So, he incised an idea, using his Hippogriff he led them to their drinking well and had his pet drool into it, for it had a very serious drooling problem. It took the creatures three weeks to die, which alarmed the King for he thought it would've taken a day or so. After having his least favorite son try the water, it turned out they weren't poisoned to death but all succumbed to alcohol poisoning. Hence," (at that moment the waitress had arrived with their drinks)

"Are you guys ready to order?" The poor girl asked meekly, holding back flinches.

"Ha, is it bad I forgot about eating?" Ariel laughed, looking at her menu for the first time since she sat down. "I'm honestly not hungry, if you wanna wait to order."

For once, his talents in Occulemncy came into play when he saw in her body language that she was more interested in talking. This elated the overgrown bat.

"We need a few more minutes." He said to Terrinan.

"Oh thank God," She sighed in relief as she half ran to the kitchen, able to survive another few minutes.

Snape ignored her and turned back to his date, who had raised her drink and said,

"Thanks to vengeful kings we now drink hippogriff spit with a lemon wedge in it!"

Snape raised his bottle to her, took a sip and started again,

"So…we've just ordered drinks and I find out you were a mermaid—"

"Well I still consider myself a mermaid. It's like being a recovering alcoholic: Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic." Ariel replied jokingly.

"You're the daughter of Triton—"

"Yep,"

"King Triton? The Lord of the Seas?"

"Yes ma'am,"

"The seventh daughter of King Triton, Lord of all Seas—"

"Poor man had to wear a tampon just to fit in," She chuckled. When Snape gave her a bewildered look, she quickly added, "That was a joke, Severus."

"Pardon me for not knowing the anatomy of the mermen and merladies. I was never awake for that class." He stated sarcastically.

"Speaking of class, Albus told me you were a professor…" She said without missing a beat. "We keep talking about me, I'd like to hear about your life since I've given you the run down."

"Not really, I haven't gotten the full story on your previous marriage and why you decided to join the air breathing community." Severus insisted with a devilish smile, he felt a small twinge of fear when he realized that this was his version of flirting.

"Oh I'm boring, trust me my story will end soon and I'll have nothing else to talk about later. At least let me listen for a little bit about your life."

Language for her ever since she got her voice back was effortless; he felt she was dangerous in the way he wanted to tell her everything. But he started small.

"I am the Potion's Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. At least that's what my resume` says. That man Albus Dumbledore you met is my employer."

This was the first time her face ever changed and it went from delightfulness to bewilderment. She wasn't the first one to ask, "That man is your boss?"

"Yes, contrary to what you might believe he is an exceptionally professional man and extraordinary wizard." Despite it all, Snape had the upmost respect for the man.

She blinked, once, before adding, "The first time I met him he told me there was no way I was a mermaid because 'they ugly as dick'."

(Voldemort: "THIS IS THE MAN-THAT IS THE GUY WHO DEFEATED ME-TWICE. I'd kill myself if I wasn't afraid Bellatrix would defile it with her—love juices."

Snape remained his usual style of apathy mixed with aggravation. "Sounds right, but how were you forced to meet him?"

"Well…whenever women go through a break-up they usually do something impulsive and drastic. For me it was abandoning a world that I had already given up everything for and impulsively decided to live in a world where dragons can eat you and it'll be your fault for looking tasty."

(Dumbledore: "I told you to get 'dragon insurance'.")

"This is what most women do?"

"No…They usually get a haircut… or develop an eating disorder...stuff like that."

"Beauty shouldn't be wasted on despair." He thought aloud to which the young woman stopped talking momentarily just to blush.

"So, Albus came to my home," (she left out the part where he introduced himself as 'Headmaster Drizzy') "And explained that, since I was no longer a mermaid, some might confuse me as a Muggle since I have do not fit into a specific category of magical persons. He offered me protection on my home against though he would not find me…proper for this world."

This is when Snape felt fear and knew exactly who was causing it.

"Who did he warn you of?"

"I forgot the name of the leader but I guess he's "the aborted-fetus-looking one" who kills everyone."

(Voldemort: "…")

Distress waved over him and crashed into his abdomen but all that showed was a simple, "'the aborted-fetus-looking-one'?"

"Severus?" She said his name.

This is when he realized he wasn't keeping eye contact and was staring at a water stain on his untouched fork.

Before any of that happened, the former merlady took her hand in his. Supple, long beautiful digits held his first three unmanicured fingers, her thumb gently rubbing his pinky. This was the first time a woman had touched him in over eight years and was doing so to comfort him. Snape had to silently berate his lower half for its premature excitement. Naturally, he verbally abused it to the point where it had low self-esteem and retreated back, hopeless and lonely. ("It's just like puberty, all over again.")

Ariel patted his knuckles. Snape, who has had less physical contact from a woman than a ghost, felt warmth underneath his aged, spoiled milk colored cheeks.

(Voldemort: "What a faggot…")

"Severus, you are not the first person to sell their soul." She whispered, coaxingly. When Snape gave her an incomprehensive look, she continued, louder, "Hell, I once traded being mute for three days for legs to a cross-dressing octopus witch. But, I was sixteen and I didn't care that he didn't deserve me; I just wanted to be with him. So I traded my voice for a vagina, abandoned my family and home just for him to make a decision between a red head and a brunette."

Snape did not find any of this comforting and as he felt his blood pressure rise, he said through his teeth to once again bite back vituperative rage, "What—did that decrepit old coot tell you?"

Ariel felt she had touched a nerve, maybe some people aren't as open about selling their souls to representations of Evil as she was.

"He-he said…when you were young, you were looking for love and acceptance in all the wrong places, like I did and you joined that man in a moment of weakness…" Before Snape could go on, she added quickly, "But when you heard he was going to harm a woman and her family, you did everything you could to stop him and you still do to protect the child."

Anyone else could see that Dumbledore held Severus in a light like no one else and had painted him in a beautiful but vague image. Severus knew he did not expose more than what she had told him and despite the paranoia that whispered in his ear that the Headmaster would reveal this to someone else, he knew that was not true. Dumbledore both told the truth and lied and Severus, for lack of a better word, loved it.

While Severus was having an introspective moment, the poor woman waited for his reaction. Finally though, he spoke,

"He…is not lying."

Ariel gave him a weak smile. "Severus there is no shame here. I promise you that."

He chuckled. "You realize theres more to the story though?"

"I assumed…"

"To be blunt, that woman that he revealed was actually the only person to ever give me affection. And I loved her, hopelessly, to which she would marry the man who would bind, gag and use me as giant squid bait every year."

"Which giant squid?"

"The one in Lake Hogwarts."

"The head of the school didn't think that having a giant squid in a lake directly near children would be dangerous?"

"The Headmaster is Dumbledore."

Pause. "Wow, I thought nobody could top my 'love and devil-with-the-devil story' but I was wrong!"

He smirked slightly then replied, "At least you rejected him back when he rejected you."

"Eh…not really. He just wanted bragging rights in saying 'I'm fucking a mermaid'. Once everyone got sick of hearing it, he got sick of me. So...goodbye fish woman." The defined human said, all with a nonchalant laugh.

"Pray tell you commanded one of your shark servants to devour that man."

"I sent another one to eat his ship too just to be spiteful." She admitted grinning wide.

She just said spiteful in a sentence. Oh, let this ravishing woman be female and unschizophrenic this time so I may have eternal bliss. He said to himself, unadmittedly fearful this would end acerbically.

"Screw them—their losses." Ariel insisted with a shrug. "They just lost two dumbasses who would've loved them endlessly."

"I couldn't agree more." Snape murmured to her, raising his bottle to her's. After a drink, he wondered, "So, how did I even get mentioned when you met the wise and wonderful Albus? And how did he manage to throw my life story in there?"

"Well, he kept talking about his new hobby of people watching and when I lied and said, 'oh that's interesting' he took that as cue to show me all the notes he keeps of you… How are you not creped the fuck out by that man?"

"…We think its dementia…"

"Ah,"

"Can I hear what he wrote?" He asked curiously with a devilish grin.

"No." She grinned playfully.