"What is it you are doing, exactly, Ms. Lupin?" Severus cocked an eyebrow at the young witch. She was stood looking dumbstruck in the middle of the hall, amber eyes wide and mouth nearly agape. Her positioning such that he almost walked directly into her and had to shift sideways to avoid bowling the girl down.
His eyes flitted to where she stared and he couldn't quite believe the sight himself.
Rose Potter had her arms firmly fixed around Ronald Weasley's neck, their mouths moving in sync as he pressed the small redhead against the wall. Severus wrinkled his nose and tried not to mirror the look on the brunette's face.
"I'm not hallucinating, am I?" She exhaled, her amber eyes flicked to him and he cleared his throat, giving her a look and shaking his head, black hair bobbed around his face.
"I am afraid not, Ms. Lupin, it would appear spring is not the only time love is in bloom." Severus grunted, eyes locked on the face of the only one he would ever love. He wondered if she looked that way because she was upset.
He'd seen the Weasley boy flirting with her, and their romance was in another life, he'd not given much thought to the idea of her falling for another.
He'd always taken for granted that she would simply be his, that there was no timeline in which she would not be. Perhaps that was not the way it would work?
"Good for her." A brilliant smile lit the witch's face and his worries faded away, drifted to the background to be picked apart another day. No, she wasn't jealous, she wasn't upset about the coupling.
She was happy, happy for Lily's daughter. He almost released a derisive snort.
He wondered how Harry was taking it, for that matter how James would handle it? He wanted to laugh aloud at that.
After the hell they gave him as teens, they deserved a bit of their own. Cosmic righteousness and all that.
"So you approve this match then, Ms. Lupin?" He tipped his head down to look at her and she stared up at him, amber eyes sparkling.
"Of course, she's adored the git for as long as I can remember."
"And your relationship with him?"
"Will be much less strained now he is distracted, no more flirting." She let out a relieved giggle and he shook his head, gods he wanted to wrap the little witch in his arms and hold her to him tightly.
She somehow always knew the right things to say, even when she didn't realize it.
"Fancy a walk in the snow, Professor?" She raised her own eyebrow at him, that brilliant smile still on her face and he gave a slow nod.
"Ah yes, your classes have completed for the day, haven't they?" She nodded and turned to walk toward the castle's exit, to the cold outdoors all covered in white snow. He followed, his hand instinctively drifting to her lower back to guide her and prevent slipping as they stepped out into the cooled air.
A smooth motion of his wand encircled them in a warming charm and she gave him that smile again.
"May I call you Severus again, as we are outside of class?" She pursed her lips at him and he smirked, his black eyes drifting across her face as they walked toward the lake. A place of so much significance to him.
Another life. He reminded himself, again and again, another life. He had to remember, these places held no heart stopping memories for her. These were places that he would treasure forever, that she may never remember.
He cleared his throat, his hand still at the small of her back.
"I suppose it is acceptable, Hermione." He could feel the shiver race through her and narrowed his eyes.
It was those moments, when she had those reactions that made him wonder, wonder if he wasn't foolish for holding on to her memory for so long. That he may just be right in waiting, waiting and wanting.
They stopped at the edge of the lake and she stared out over the dark surface, glistening with a light coat of ice.
"It reminds me of your eyes, you know?" She spoke, his breath hitched in his throat, movement ceased. He wanted to speak but he couldn't seem to form words. Suddenly he was that school boy again, standing beside the girl he loved and hoping that time would stand still so that he could just continue to hold her.
There had never been a better feeling that that he'd had with the witch in his arms, her love enveloping him, her patience, her caring making him want to be better, to be better than he was.
"I hope you don't think that's weird." He could see a little blush tint her cheeks, could imagine the way it would travel down to her neck and chest. He could remember the way her body glowed with a flush the first few times he looked upon her.
Would she react the same way again? Would she be so bold yet somehow still so fragile as she'd been before?
"I don't." He rasped, his voice barely audible and she leaned into his side more, he told himself she only sought his body heat.
He couldn't entertain the notion she wanted to be closer to him.
"Your eyes are deep like this like, so many mysteries, so many treasures lingering just under the surface, like if I could break that thin layer of ice I would understand so much more. Sometimes you seem so tumultuous, others so placid, like a still day in the middle of summer, no ripples across the surface. I know when your eyes look one way you're going to pull away from me, act like there isn't something here." She was looking away from him, eyes downcast and he cleared his throat.
"What do you think is here, Hermione?"
"'Mi! There you are! Did you see Ron and Rose!?" Ginny bustled up to the pair who immediately broke apart. Hermione turned to her friend, a bright smile on her face, forced, it was very, very forced.
Severus drifted away. So close, he'd been so close to finding out what she thought.
Damned Weasleys.
SSHG
"You are a terrible person Ginny!" Hermione crowed as the two walked arm in arm toward the castle. Severus had drifted away from them incredibly quickly and left Hermione feeling cold without his presence beside her.
"Sorry!" The redhead exclaimed, eyes bright. "But you saw, right? I mean, can you believe it? He finally pulled his head out of his arse!"
"Yes, and now his face is attached to hers, I saw." Hermione laughed as they entered the main hall from the frigid outside air, it was warm inside and Hermione brushed the snow from her robes, watching as it dissolved into nothing on the stone floors.
"It's about time, now what did I interrupt out there?" The witch waggled her eyebrows and Hermione shook her head, amber eyes sparkling.
"We were talking, having a good conversation for once and you interrupted it." She pouted, Ginny flushed.
"Sorry, I couldn't help it, I was just so excited, I even ran outside without a cloak." She motioned to her shoulders that were indeed bare of a cloak.
"Hmm, well, we should go find Rose now and see if we can get her to talk, I suppose."
"Talk! I need details!" Ginny cried, arm in the air, Hermione shook her head with a giggle. Her friend was nuts, but she loved her that way.
They found Rose holding Ron's hand in the dining hall, eating and talking and smiling at one another. Harry sat across from them with a scowl on his face and Hermione shook her head, clearing her throat.
"He's looking at you too, you know, you should just go and talk to him. I think he misses you as well, quit being a stubborn arse because we both know he won't do it." She elbowed the raven-haired boy as Ginny pried Rose away from Ron.
Harry scowled. "It isn't like that."
"And I have blue hair." Hermione responded with a cocked eyebrow, Ginny smirked.
"And I am the muggle queen of England!"
"Shurrup." Harry groaned in frustration around his food. Rose whined as Ginny began to tug her out of the hall.
"Good to see you finally got your head on right, Ronald." Hermione smirked at him before she bounced off behind her friends, the familiar sensation of a dark set of eyes on her back.
"Bloody mad." Ron grumbled and Harry gave a nod of agreement, both boys going back to their food.