Gumby

Chapter 50: Dumbledore's Gift

"You know, you have yet to show me your private quarters," Samara said as she waltzed up to his desk at the end of Potions. Severus looked up and noticed that everyone was already gone and that the door had been firmly closed behind the last person who had exited. He'd gotten so caught up in looking through the essays that everyone had turned in. He looked at Samara, wondering what she had said to get rid of her three friends. However, he decided against asking her, trusting that she'd told them something plausible for her to stay behind.

"No, I suppose I haven't," he said as he dropped what he was doing and walked past her, indicating for her to follow after him. It didn't take them very long to arrive, considering they were in the dungeons. Samara wasn't too surprised that his private quarters were so close to Slytherin. She wasn't too surprised when they stopped before a stone wall, much like in Slytherin and her own private quarters; she supposed that his quarters were behind the stone wall. "Iris," he muttered to the wall, causing it to slide open, and waving Samara quickly inside.

Samara smirked as she stepped into the room and saw that it looked just like his study, except for the fact that there was a door at the far end, which she supposed led to his bedroom. She watched him walk over to the couch before the fire and settle down. However, Samara walked over to the bookshelf and started to eye the spines of the books that lined the walls. "God Severus, how many books have you bought?" she asked as she fingered the spines delicately.

Severus watched intently as her fingers softly played on the spines, her eyes steadily studying them. There was something strangely alluring of watching her thin fingers softly caressing the spines, her fingers feather-lightly touching them as her eyes roved over titles and authors, intently studying each word with delight. He couldn't help the way all his hairs stood on end in wonder of her soft touch and what if would do to him.

Shaking his head, Severus watched as Samara plucked out a leather bound book that he didn't quite recognize. She eyed it curiously as she flipped it in her hands. "An anthology of Wizarding poetry throughout the ages, you like poetry Severus?" she asked, looking over at him with a raised brow. Her hazel eyes were mocking him once more and he glared over at her as she started to flip through the pages.

"Not particularly. I suppose that was Dumbledore's gift for my birthday a few years ago. Usually he had a tendency to give me socks," Severus said irritably as Samara walked over with the book in her hand, completely engrossed as she flipped through the pages. Her eyes brightened as she sat next to him and giggled at some of the poems she read. Severus didn't pay much mind or care what she thought was funny in what she read, but was completely enthralled by her.

The soft light from the fireplace made her face glow warmly and her eyes were sparkling in such a way that breathed with merriment. "What do you find so amusing?" Severus drawled in irritation, he didn't want Samara's attention diverted elsewhere in one of the few moments that he was able to spend with her. She looked up and smiled at him. He felt his heart beat against his rib as she scooted closer and curled up to him, the book resting in her lap as she looked back down to it.

"I found my favorite poem, Innocence by Kind Hades about his Queen," Samara replied. Severus raised a brow. Once upon a time, a very long time ago, the wizarding world did have Queens and Kings, but that tradition died out in their world long before it had in the muggle world. However, Severus had not known that the old aristocracy had indulged in something so frivolous for their world as poetry. "Can I read it to you Sevy?" Samara asked as she turned her bright eyes to him.

"I suppose," Severus grimaced, causing samara to place a kiss on his cheek as she turned her attention to the book before her. Severus watched her as she ran her tongue over her lips, wetting them for the reading. The single little gesture was quite an enticement to him and he had to focus his attention away from her perfect mouth. Slowly, his gaze wandered down her lithe frame that was hidden in her school robes and settled on her small wrists and sleek hands that held daintily to the book. He couldn't believe that even her long arms were beautiful. It was a mystery to him how every inch of her was so enchanting to him.

"Through a field of Belladonna I once swayed
In a fiery haze, guided by sweet moonlight,
That often betrayed."

Severus stared at Samara and his brain quickly thought of the meaning of the poem. He wasn't one for poetry, but Fiery haze he took to mean that the man was drunk on firewhisky. As for the field of Belladonna's it was clearly not talking about the plant. He suppose that had more to do with bella donna, beautiful woman in Italian. Besides, was it not King Hades who'd been known to be quite the celebrated bachelor well into his late forties?

"Upon a fairy ring, I did stray
And to the flute frenzy of Fairy Folk
I had not tragic hope but to sway."

Now this was completely straight forward. It was well known that should you ever step into a fairy ring your fate was to dance until you died of exhausting, there was absolutely no hope. Severus resisted the urge to roll his eyes instead to look at Samara's mouth moving, forming the syllable with a flick of her tongue. Each word sounded like gold, and he could hear the flute that was playing. If he closed his eyes, he could actually see this literal field of belladonnas where a man had stumbled onto a Fairy ring where he was doomed to die while dancing the small creatures.

"But tragic be not my fate
As my eyes befell that sweet face
That has my heart caught in a feverish state."

Severus turned and looked over at Samara and felt his heart pound as he watched her staring down at the pages. Her index fingers were stroking the corners of the book. She had a very peaceful look on her face as she stared at the print. His heart hardly skipped a beat as it followed every soft syllable. The same two strands of always fell in her eyes as she was reading, but she seemed quite accustomed to seeing through the individuals strands of silk and was able to continue reading just fine.

Reaching over slowly, Severus pushed back the strands and tucking them gently behind her ears. Samara looked up at him, her hazel eyes widened in surprised as she looked at him. She blushed lightly as she stared at him and he wondered how her eyes could still look so innocents despite everything that she had lived through. She was simply a marvel to him, everything she could possible be enthralled him and thinking about it, he really couldn't think of anyone he'd rather be manipulated by.

After smiling at him briefly, Samara turned her gaze back down to the book that she had in her lap. Her body was partially resting against his and she was comforted by having him so close to her. It was like he was her big pillow and once more she had to smile at this as she looked for the place where she ad just left off. Truly he was more than just her pillow and she loved the way he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, bringing her closer to him so that she could smell the cozy wormwood smell that made her feel drowsy and warm.

"Raven locks like silk ribbons wound
Sensually wrapping on a lithe, feminine form
Casting magic all its own and leaving me spellbound.

"Pearlescent skin put the moon to shame
Limbs graciously glowing against black night
In a gentle, white, dancing flame.

"This zephyr dancer was far beyond appealing
Far beyond alluring temptation
And quite powerfully bewitching."

The image that popped into his head immediately was Samara. However, he felt slightly uncomfortable and banished the thought. It felt positively dangerous to think of Samara with her long hair loose, cascading over bear shoulders that probably did glow pearlescently in the moon just like her face. Her hair could possibly cover her small little mound of a chest, though was no less appealing to Severus. He didn't particularly care if they were big or small, so long as they were Samara's they were absolutely beautiful. Nothing would change the way that he viewed Samara and she was an absolutely beautiful creature. Even if to others she was only fair.

Thinking objectively, he had to say Samara was too thin and small. He supposed that her thing legs, small waist, small chest, think arms and tiny wrists had a lot to do with the act that she loved gymnastics. He couldn't deny that if he had not seen her eat her three square meals that he would be rather worried that she was unhealthy. However, he did love her very much and couldn't care less that she was so tiny. So long as she was healthy, he was happy. As for her face, she had fine features and it was rather pretty, and resplendently breathtaking when she made up her face and hair. However, he supposed otherwise she was regarded as a very naturally beautiful girl.

He had to say what probably had the Weasley boy and Tim Elias to like Samara was really her sweet disposition. However, anytime that she was really hit on seemed to be those rare few times that she made an honest effort to show-case her beauty. However, once more, Severus didn't care for that. He much rather preferred that Samara didn't know how beautiful she was and preferred not to be a doll on parade. She had so much more going for her than her pretty face and limber form. She was a brilliant witch and deserved to be respected for it. He doubted very much that the same would occur if she was breathtakingly stunning all the time, no one would be able to take her seriously because they'd be too busy focusing on how she'd managed to apply just the perfect amount of make up.

Looking over at Samara, Severus thought about his love for Samara. There was no one in the world that compared to this seventeen-year-old conundrum that was curled up next to him. Quite frankly, he knew that there was no way at all that he deserved the young little goddess that so apparently loved him beyond measure. He knew that she deserved so much more than him and he was quite sure that there simply wasn't anyone in the world that would be worthy enough for Samara. To him she was filled with resplendent beauty that shone on the inside and the outside and he didn't rightly care if no one but him saw it in the world. He just hoped he was able to truly care for that beauty.

"With a flick of the wrist and a flip of her hair
On hands and knees I went crawling
To her in deep despair.

"Hew wide innocent eyes looked upon me with affection
Glistening ponds where mischief roams free.
With tears on my cheek, I feared her rejection.

"Her lips scorched me blessedly.
And she lovingly accepted this ugly duckling
Within her heart, where I can die peacefully."

Samara looked over at Severus and he met her gaze. He had a great urge to lean into her and kiss her deeply in gratitude for her love, while another part of him wanted to shake her wildly to know why she would ever pick someone like him. However, instead he decided to sneer at her choice of poetry. "So you like a poem in which a fairy loves an ugly human upon sight?" Severus asked mockingly as he looked at her. Samara sighed heavily as she took the book from her lap and placed it on the table before them.

"Sevy you didn't get the two messages of the poem! First of all, its entitled innocence because sometimes innocence allows you to see more than anyone else can see," she said, turning to look at him. Severus stared into her eyes and wondered if that was the reason that she was able to see so much. "And the second was that love, no matter how much you resist it, catches you when you least expect it and that you have to let go of pride and you will see how generous, forgiving and redeeming love can be."

Severus stared at Samara and wondered how she could be so wise. He wondered once more if it all went back to innocence. He knew that she wasn't foolishly innocence and strangely enough there was wisdom in it. He stared into her hazel eyes and thought about the similarity in the expression he often saw in them, to the one that he saw in Dumbledore's. They both seemed to know a lot more than other people about everything and he didn't know how that was possible. However, as he turned his attention to what she said about love being redeeming he thought about something that Dumbeldore had once said to him.

"My word, Severus, that I shall never reveal the best of you?" That was what he'd said to him the night that the Potters had died, when Samara was a second year after he'd asked Dumbledore never to tell of his love for Lily. Dumbledore seemed to think that his redeeming quality was the love he had for Lily. And Severus had to say it was true, that being able to love was one of his only redeeming qualities, not that he loved very much. However, love also made one foolish. After all, here he was still at Hogwarts, beneath the wing of Dumbledore until the Dark Lord returned, if that were to ever happen. Who knew how long that would take, but he knew that there were still several years before the boy-who-lives came for his first year. If he did the math correctly there were still about five more years until the boy would show up for his first year. Which meant he'd given away his whole life, without even knowing that something so wonderful as Samara would come along.

Severus looked over at Samara and stared at her. "Pardon me, but I'm not one for poems," he said as he reached out and undid her dun by pulling on the band that was holding it up. Severus watched as black waves tumbles down and was amused to see that her hair wasn't as straight as it should be for it had been bound in that bun all day long. He no longer wanted to dwell on the 'gifts' that Dumbledore had given him. He only wanted to think about Samara, and what a wonderful gift she was. "Samara, what do you believe sent you to me?"

Samara stared at him in wonder, a moment of weakness at long last really showing through as he caressed her hair and lavished her face with the full attention of his intense gaze. She thought for a moment as she looked at him and smiled. "An angel that must've been very fond of you," she replied, before leaning forward and placing a ghost kiss on his lips.

A shiver ran through his spine when he realized that he didn't feel true love for Samara until she was a fifth year. Sure she's always fascinated him because she was quite the conundrum, but Samara had said so herself that he didn't love her until she was a fifth year. "When did you realize you loved me?" he suddenly asked as he stared at her, wondering when it was and wondering if it was possible that, if someone had sent him to Samara and it was someone that had been fond of him, if it could have possible been Lily. For he could only imagine her as an angel and she was the only person to have ever liked him at all or been nice to him before Samara.

"I always liked you, but I suppose in my sixth year when we started to spend a lot of time with each other and I saw more to you than ever meets the eyes," she smiled as she looked at him. Severus drew Samara close and hugged her, burying his face in her hair and neck, becoming woozy with her scent. Could Samara be his redemption?

TBC…

A/n: Sorry for taking long to update. One of my past English teachers, one that always believed in me and made me feel better about who I was at one point, has just recently passed away. He was a Jewel of a teacher, one of the ones that really cared about his students and made class fun. He thought my writing was something special and it saddens me that he is gone.

Umm... on a note pertinent to the story, that poem is mine, Samara isn't actually a gift from Dumbledore and sory about the lousy editing, wasn't much up doing it thoroughly. Especially not at five am while feeling like crap. Anyway, hoped you liked the chapter and will review please.