"Knock, knock." Selena peeped her head through the ajar door of the Potions Classroom. She was all clad up into thick winter layers of navy blue with her remarkable lopsided grin, of course. Severus looked like he had just finished brewing something, only sparing a glance before shaking his head coolly.
"The door makes the sound, Miss Stellifer, not you. You see, you rap your knuckles against it." He quipped, returning to his bubbling cauldron. "Would you care to try again?"
She chuckled, "No, thank you. I don't want to look stupid."
"Oh? You think that's stupid?" Severus asked, only heightening the volume of Selena's laughter further. She walked over to where he was concocting something and inspected the materials, only for the Potions Master to look at her suspiciously. "What is your business here? Clearly, this isn't the direction to the Hospital Wing."
"Poppy's sending me out to fetch a few things we need for restocking, so I'm headed off to Hogsmeade."
"Alright, and? What are you still loitering here for? You think there's a hidden shortcut in the dungeons?"
"Oh, I wish," Selena groaned about quite the long walk. "But no, I came to invite you to join me," She said. "Though, if I'm being honest, Poppy asked me to convince you into coming with me because she doesn't want you borrowing things from her again."
"Of course she did." Severus sighed heavily while practised hands moved around the workspace. "But in my defense, she also steals ingredients from my cupboard,"
"With permission." Selena added cheekily. "I don't think that counts as stealing, Professor."
He rolled his eyes, ignoring her words. "So, I suppose you plan to leave at this very moment?"
She frowned, "Oh, does that mean you're not coming?"
"Not at all. It simply means, if you'd have let me finish, I would've kindly asked you to assist me in pouring the potion into the empty vials while I tidy my desk." He showed her those sarcastic quirk of the lips. It wasn't a smile—at least, it didn't look like one—though, it wasn't a smirk either. This was Severus, after all, he was quite hard to read if you didn't try hard enough.
Selena chuckled playfully, "Of course, I'll help. Just hurry, though. It's getting cold."
"Going outside doesn't make it any more of a difference, though, does it?" Said Severus while he began casting cleaning spells on the used cauldrons and ladles.
"Now, that I think about it, I guess not." The Mediwizard shrugged, pausing from her actions to wrap her coat a little tighter around her.
In not less than fifteen minutes, Selena was patiently waiting by the door of the classroom while Severus absented himself to change into warmer clothing, if he had any warmer clothing. For a second, she wondered if she would be able to see Severus in anything but the usual gloomy black uniform of his. Instead, she distracted herself by wonderingly inspecting the Potions classroom from where she stood, and suddenly, wistful thoughts of her academic years flashed before her.
It was as if it were only yesterday when she was also just a student in her cozy Ravenclaw robes, seated on their respectful desks, waiting for class to start, as she should be. If she focused real hard, she could still hear the voices of her Housemates murmuring new kinds of concoctions they could experiment on after class or that one time they recited all the instructions of the Draught of Peace in preparation for a test. And only naturally, they were all on point.
Light but audible footsteps broke her trance, "You're still here? I expected you to be waiting by the stairs—"
"Shh, shh!" Selena's hand shot up to silence the man without turning to face him. "I'm having a nostalgic moment..." She let out a sigh at the same time Severus let out a grunt behind her.
"And you advised me to hurry," He rolled his eyes, Selena sensed. She greeted him with a cheeky but apologetic smile.
"Oh, alright, let's go," And after one last look at the classroom, they were off. "You know, I really miss the old days; Our warm robes, the common room—and oh! Potions! I love Potions." She remarked with glee on the stairs.
Severus glanced at her with approval, or questioning, she didn't know exactly. "As did I." He admitted quietly.
"Did?" She questioned. "Why the past-tense?"
"Well, Miss Stellifer, when you've been teaching Potions to children for almost ten years, it just gets a tad bit mundane." He said nonchalantly, eyes dancing on the floor. "You lose the puerile spark of interest because you do the same thing every year."
"You've been here for ten years?" Selena didn't give him time to reply as she quickly added, "Wait, if you've been here that long… That means you've been here since the war ended?" There was a slight unease evident in Severus' face after that, and even if he didn't mean to react like that, Selena was still able to catch it. Could it be because of the war? Probably. But what about it?
"Yes." Was all he said about it before returning to the previous subject, "Anyways, I suppose your nostalgia consists of old friends? Memories containing them? ...Professor Slughorn?" He drawled.
"No!" She cried, then laughed. "Not the professor, no. Though, not exactly my friends either."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, I guess it's more of the feeling of being young, when all of us were still so… innocent." Sighed Selena, frustratedly. "When we still weren't exposed to what was happening outside of Hogwarts." The look on Severus' face and the silence that accompanied it seemed to wordlessly ask her to continue. Flashbacks of the war dawned over her; Seeing dead Aurors on the hospital beds, families crying… Families dead. Another shaky sigh. "The moment I stepped out of Hogwarts, reality hit me harder than ever. I've seen things, Professor… I've seen things you probably have never seen in your life, ten years ago."
Severus didn't seem to like the topic, his brows were furrowed and his mouth was morphed into a quirk of unease. He mumbled a few things to himself and Selena swore she'd heard one of them to be: "Want to bet?" but she didn't push him any further.
She didn't blame him for not wanting to reminisce, nobody liked to talk about the war, her included. She let go of the topic, respectful silence feigning over them as they walked away from the castle, until Selena went on about one silly hospital patient she had, and Severus would comment every once in a while.
Hogsmeade didn't change a bit since she was last there, and that had been over ten years ago. Her heart swelled at the sight of the wooden cabins and indistinct chatter of the villagers and students alike. Although, something did seem to be missing to complete Hogsmeade, and she had to admit, without it, the village seemed just a little off.
"Do you think it'll snow today?" Selena asked, nose high in the air while she inspected the cloudy skies.
Severus did the same to formulate his own opinion. "Most likely. The temperature dropped this morning."
"No wonder." She swore, her gloved hands sunk deeper into the pockets of her coat. Selena wasn't exactly a fan of the winter season, though not much of a summer-person either. She liked the in-betweens a lot better, spring and autumn, where she could enjoy the fresh breeze of the winter while also being warmed under the glow of the sun. That day, however, no sun was present. It was cloudy and dark in the few places where candlelight survived to stay lit.
"J. Pippin's first?" She asked and Severus showed a single nod and led the way. "I swear, if it gets any colder than this, I might have to make additional orders for the Pepperup ingredients." The Mediwizard grumbled to herself, unaware of the slight upright of Severus' lips in front of her.
Much to their luck—or mostly Selena's—the apothecary was warm enough to shed themselves from a layer of their clothing. It was quiet too, save for the light cackling of fire on the ceiling torches and the light rummaging at the back of the shop. The two colleagues advanced to the right wall where the potions ingredients were located, and Selena quietly thanked Severus after she was handed a small bag to put her items in.
"Oh, look, bicorn horns," Selena smiled but kept her voice down. "You should get some of your own so you don't have to borrow any."
"I know what I'm here for." Severus sneered, making Selena's smile widen.
"Hopefully not for borrowing." She teased.
Severus rolled his eyes but didn't make any retort. Instead, he walked past the laughing Mediwizard and shopped on his own for a few minutes. Half an hour later they found themselves back on the streets of Hogsmeade. It felt colder since they arrived, Selena's rosy cheeks were enough to prove that.
"Is there anywhere else you wish to visit?" Severus inquired. His voice seemed irritated but not directly at her, he seemed to be slightly shivering and his breathing seemed more ragged.
"There's more, actually, but shall we get tea first? Warm ourselves up…" Selena already began walking to the shop before Severus could even make up an answer, and only sufficed a nod when the shop was in sight. "Madam Pudifoot's makes the second best tea I know."
"Oh?" Severus raised his brow, speeding to the door to open it for Selena. "What might be the first?"
The witch chuckled, glancing at him playfully. "Mine, of course."
Like J. Pippins, the store was warm enough for them to remove their coats, but it smelled a whole lot better. In one direction, there was a faint aroma of cinnamon, in the other, fresh pumpkin spice. Here, the chatter was low and people were less rowdy compared to some situations at The Three Broomsticks.
"You know, I used to come here a lot," Selena began as they sat. "I'd be reading or studying while having cinnamon rolls and hot chamomile."
"With company?" Severus asked.
"Alone." She said. "Not a lot of people enjoyed my food preferences when I was younger. A bit too mature for me, they said."
The professor nodded then looked around for a waiter, "Food is food. Not an age determiner. We're free to indulge in what we want. You didn't give in to what they said, did you?"
"Of course not! I enjoy what I eat, especially here. Alone or not." Selena smiled while Severus' face relaxed. His own version of a smile, probably. "In fact, this is the first time I've been here with any company." Severus didn't say anything in regards to that, and Selena wondered if he was flattered, but then her afterthought was that it was ridiculous.
It wasn't until the waitress came—an elderly gentle lady—did Severus speak again. Looking up from the menu, he said, "The apple pie slice and an earl grey please." He said politely, even in his low register voice.
"The usual, I see, Professor." The lady flashed a smile while Severus, only a nod. Selena was happily puzzled. "And the pretty lady?"
"Oh, thank you," Selena giggled coyly. "A cinnamon roll and chamomile tea will do."
"Hmm, funnily enough," The waitress said after jotting down the order. "There used to be a little lady who always got that very same order every time she came here. She'd sit at that table," She pointed at the couch by the store window, currently occupied by a middle aged lady and her son. "And have her nose planted into a book until dinner neared."
"My, wherever could she be now?" Severus sighed sarcastically, making Selena smile at him.
"Oh, I wonder the same. Precious little thing, she was. She left tips higher than our regulars but we never got her name." She clicked her tongue. "A shame, really."
"Perhaps, she would return one day." Selena couldn't fight the chuckle that escaped her.
"Hopefully." The jolly lady grinned. "Now, you be careful with Severus here, young miss. If it were ten years ago, you would've been exactly his type."
"I beg your pardon?" Severus retorted after her last word.
She chuckled heartily, saying, "You didn't hear it from me." And walked away without another word.
Selena smiled amusedly, "Do you two know each other?"
"A friend of Minerva's." He simply said. "Minerva used to bring me here for tea back when I was new… And they talk more than they should."
The Mediwizard chuckled, then curiously asked, "Did you stop? You and Minerva, did you stop coming here for tea?"
"No, we didn't stop. Just happens quite rarely now." He said, and Selena frowned.
"Why?"
"For obvious reasons, Miss Stellifer," Selena couldn't help but notice how he didn't meet her eyes. "We're professors, engaged in too many occupations."
"I see." She exhaled.
"Not that I feel disappointed about it, anyway."
Selena rolled her eyes, "Of course, you aren't." There was always more to learn about Severus everyday, she thought. One of which is that sometimes, he may be a pretty bad liar.
After tea, they fleetingly visited Honeydukes, Selena's excuse being, "I miss the cute little chocolate frogs."
"Merlin," Severus huffed. "I'd rather not head inside so if you would give me your bags and hurry inside to purchase whatever childish ridiculousness you wish, I will wait here."
"See, I don't know if that's nice or not," Selena chuckled. "We need to work on your wording. However, yes, I would very much appreciate it if you could watch over my bags."
"Yes, yes, now stop trying to be funny and go. It's not getting any warmer." The Mediwizard rushed inside with a cheery laugh.
On the walk back to the castle, it was an hour past noon, but it wasn't as sunny as the previous days were. Selena hummed a random tune while Severus' eyes traced the shapes of the thick grey clouds above them. The castle formed dark shadows all around but inside, it was warm and golden from the fireplaces and candles. Waiting by the courtyard—much reminiscent to the night Selena arrived—was Professor McGonagall, who dropped her stern demeanor as she cordially smiled at them.
"You both seemed to have enjoyed Hogsmeade."
"We have," Selena smiled, eyes crinkling as she approached her. "Though, it's still as I imagined. In fact, we—" She paused, stopping in both sentence and tracks, confusing Minerva and Severus at once.
"Don't tell me you've found another firefly," He scoffed lightly, but the witch was too busy to come up with a clever response to that, finding what was on her sleeve more interesting.
"It's a snowflake." She blurted like she was out of breath. Severus was about to roll his eyes until he caught the big, bright beam of a smile on Selena's face. "It's snowing."
"It happens every year, Miss Stellifer."
"Yes, but," Selena watched as the naturally crafted ice melted and soaked into her coat. "I've never experienced the first snowfall before.
"Well, don't fret, you aren't missing out on a lot of things," He said. "It's only the first snowfall, nothing too special about it—"
"Now, now, Severus, the first snowfall is special if one wants it to be." Minerva countered, and Severus hushed to listen. "In fact, one Korean belief is if during the first snowfall, someone confesses their love to another, they're bound to get together, and for a very long time at that, if not, all their life."
"That's beautiful." Selena stared at her old professor in awe of what she had just said.
"A romantic like you would obviously find it as such." Severus remarked.
She pulled a face at him. "I'm not a romantic."
He shrugged, looking elsewhere. "Still closeted, then."
"Hey," Selena frowned, she turned to Minerva who invited them to head inside. "Anyways, Minerva, how do you know about the first snowfall?"
Minerva looked hesitant for a split second, but carried on her smile. With a soft, wistful voice she said, "Just as you did, my dear. A friend told me all about it."
"Dougal or Elphinstone?" Severus asked, almost tantalizingly, and he received a death glare from Minerva.
"You shut your mouth if you don't want to lose it, young man." She threatened, and while it made Severus quite smug, it only made Selena curious. "Have you both eaten?"
The Mediwizard nodded, "We had a bite at—"
"At Madam Pudifoot's." Severus concluded, more smug than ever, and at this point, Minerva was not afraid to give him a playful smack on the arm.
She turned to Selena fretfully, "Come, Selena, let's leave him alone. Always talking nonsense, he is."
From the corner of her eyes, Selena caught a glimpse of a smirk on Severus' face. Not a quirk of disgust, no, an actual proud smirk sitting on his lips. Unfortunately, it appeared as quick as it left, but Selena could remember it vividly. So while she was being dragged away from the Potions Master who couldn't care less of what Minerva was doing, she imagined what it would look like if the gloomy man happened to smile.
It was probably nice.