Chapter Twenty-Three

Looking down at the thick parchment in her hands Ember bit her lip as she packed up her things, ready to leave the hospital and head home. She could feel the looks Matthew kept sending her way, the hairs on the back of her neck practically standing on edge. Matthew had been acting strange lately. He had barely spoken to her in the past few weeks since their little spat about Severus, and when he did she always felt there was something off.

Ember couldn't exactly put her finger on it but all she knew was she didn't like it. Ignoring his deep gaze Ember swiftly exited the staff room, not stopping to speak to anyone until she had left. Severus wasn't at hers when she got back but she didn't expect him to. It was 3.30am, he was either on some kind of mission for either Dumbledore or Voldemort or he was at his own place fast asleep.

Grabbing a quick bite to eat the girl washed up and got dressed for bed. Entering her room she slipped beneath the cold sheets, dropping the letter onto the floor. Closing her eyes Ember was sure she was going to fall straight asleep what with the long and arduous shift she had just covered, but instead she found herself twisting and turning. She couldn't fall asleep, and she just felt frustrated for a reason she didn't understand. The bed felt too cold, she decided. Turning onto her right Embers hand fell into the open space next to her.

Eyes fluttering open, her blue eyes stared heavily at the opposite side of the bed. Scoffing she flopped onto her back. Is this what it really came down to? She couldn't sleep if Severus wasn't lying next to her? Had she truly gotten used to his presence that much? Growling in frustration she grabbed a handful of the thick duvet only to yank it over her head. She was going to sleep and the lack of Severus sleeping next to her wasn't going to stop her.

She was wrong.

The next morning she found herself sat on her couch, a cup of tea warming her hands as she sporadically opened her mouth in a reluctant yawn as her eyes kept drooping. Shaking her head when it fell forward she groaned. Grabbing her wand she made a small movement as she whispered the word 'tempus'. It was 10.02am. She had been asleep for nearly seven hours. It was broken, waking every so often and sometimes taking a while to go back. She was exhausted, and annoyed. She didn't like how much the lack of her boyfriend had effected her so much.

Just as her head started to loll forward once more she jolted awake at hearing the fire ignite. Raising her head she saw Severus step out of the fireplace, brushing some soot off his shoulders before coming to sit beside her. "You look exhausted." He commented, brushing a stray hair from her face as he looked at her in concern. She smiled sleepily back at him.

"I'm fine. Just didn't sleep so good."

"How come?" Ember shrugged. She didn't know why she didn't tell him the reason why, probably because she was scared of how he would react. Ember knew he loved her, cared about her but he was still the same person. He still had deep seated issues that she sometimes witnessed presenting themselves every so often. Usually when someone did something nice for him. Sometimes she saw it when she showed him how much she cared about him. It wasn't that he didn't believe her but he wasn't used to it, his childhood having taken too tight a hold on him to make him be able to slip from its grasp simply because she said she loved him.

"I don't really know." She mumbled, downing the tea which had cooled down considerably. Depositing it on the coffee table she moved back to relax against Severus who had his arms open already waiting for her. She needed to stay awake, but the feeling of Severus running his fingers through her hair and lightly massaging her head was making it difficult. He had rested his head against hers and she could feel the slight vibrations through his chest as he spoke.

"Why don't you try and sleep now?" Ember immediately protested, her arms wrapping around his torso tightly.

"I can't." Her voice was slightly whiny but she didn't care, a consequence of how tired she was.

"Why is that?" Severus asked her softly, pressing a kiss to her forehead gently. Ember hummed as she pushed herself back to face him before carefully climbing off the couch to head to the bedroom. She could hear Severus following her. "What are you doing?" Ignoring his question Ember headed to her closet, grabbing the bag that was placed just inside. Turning she saw Severus sitting on the edge of her bed just watching her curiously.

Suddenly she felt wide awake. Skipping over to him, she giddily handed over the bag. Severus took it hesitantly, feeling slightly wary and confused. "Happy birthday." Severus started. Was today the 9th? It had completely slipped his mind that his birthday was coming up, or more like tried to stomp on it until it disappeared. Ember came and sat beside it.

"Thank you." His voice was low but Ember didn't mind.

"We met a year ago today." Turning to look at her Severus felt a small smile on his lips. Wow, she was right. It had been a year, a full year. So maybe they didn't speak for a month after meeting but it had been this day last they met each other.

"So we did." he replied, leaning forward to press a quick kiss to her lips. Turning back to the bag in his hands, he sighed before opening it and pulling out two separate gifts that was placed inside. Smiling Embers gaze fell to the floor, pausing when she spotted the letter sat staring back up at her. Trying to be as subtle as possible she used her foot to push the letter under her bed.

Severus was now looking at the book she had gifted him. A book on dark magic, or more specifically potions, that her mother had acquired many years ago. Her mother had given her permission to present it to Severus since they both knew he would get more use out of the book than they would.

"Where did you get this? How?" Severus could admit he was in shock. There were limited copies of this particular book. It was known but people had mostly forgotten about it due to no one having found any in so long. He only knew about it because his mother had mentioned it when he was young.

"My mother is, like, three hundred years old." Ember laughed. "I think she knew him personally for a time. At least that's what she said but she could have been lying."

"This is a first edition." he breathed in awe. There had been many copies of this book but the ministry had banned it and demanded it be destroyed due to some of the potions inside. Only a few copies survived, and now he had one. He carefully placed the book aside and moved to the second gift, stripping the paper and depositing it on the bed. Looking down at the box in his hand he frowned before looking at the girl next to him.

"I did everything you asked." she mused, smiling at him. "Even that box was from my house. I asked you on New Years remember? What you wanted for your birthday and you demanded for me not to buy you anything. I didn't buy you anything, I spent not one sickle on you."

"What exactly is this?" Severus questioned her, lifting up a beautiful glass vial filled with clear liquid. The liquid splashed agaisn the face of the glass as he inspected it.

"Mermaid tears." Severus felt himself still as he turned to look at her swiftly. She shrugged unconcerned. "They are known to have magical properties. They are also known to be one of the rarest potion ingredients one can find. Well, that and anything else mermaid related. At least for my species."

"I can't accept this." He implored, staring at the vial in shock.

"You can and you will. Do you know how long it took to fill that up. It was an exhausting task, Sev. I'll be pretty annoyed if you don't." Ember huffed, folding her arms across her chest. Shaking his head at her childish display he grabbed her by the back of her neck to bring her closer to him, their lips meeting in a passionate kiss.

"Thank you." he sighed, his forehead resting against hers for a moment before pulling back. Carefully putting his gifts on the floor, along with the paper and bag, he grabbed Ember by her legs. Yelping at the unexpected movement she found herself dragged into the middle of the bed, Severus' mouth attacking her body as he stripped himself from his robes. Smiling she wrapped her arms around his neck. Yeah, she liked this think he was definitely happy with what she had given him, especially cause she managed to do so without spending any money and therefore respecting his wishes.

Staring up at the canopy of her bed Ember sighed delightfully. She had spent the day with Severus, both thankfully not having to work. They spent much of their time in bed just celebrating his birthday though if you asked him he would have denied it. Not long after she had given him the presents he had acted like it wasn't his birthday anymore. Looking at him she couldn't help but lift her hand to his face. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, a stark difference to when he was awake.

He had lines of stress etched on his face, looking older than he should but Ember still thought he was beautiful. Inside and out. Sighing she turned away from him, rolling until she was at the edge of the bed. Using her hand she felt around for the letter she had kicked underneath earlier. Squinting in annoyance she cursed when her fingers just hit air and floor. She was practically hanging off the bed now, peering underneath the bed. She had kicked it further than she thought.

She eventually grabbed it though, being careful getting back up on the bed to not wake Severus. Looking at her own name on the front she bit her lip. She recognised the handwriting, having wrote to her once before about a week ago. Just as she was about to open it she heard Severus groan, rolling onto his back as he woke up. Shoving the letter under her pillow she turned onto her side, accepting the hug from the man beside her. Severus was clearly not truly waking up, falling back asleep quite quickly.

Yawning Ember relaxed further in his hold. She could reply to Eileen in the morning.

Edited