Chapter 11: A magic of a different sort

Chapter 11: A magic of a different sort

February, nearing St Valentine's Day, a Saturday:

"Do you still have that dagger on you?" Severus casually asked that morning as he and Mallory walked down the hall.

"No," she said glumly, "Dumbledore put a charm on it so that every time I take it beyond my chamber door, it starts playing the theme from The Love Boat." She grimaced. "Ever heard that?" He shook his head. "Oh, lord, pray that you never do! Anyway, why did you inquire about my dagger?"

"Because I want to jam it in my eye if I have to see the colour pink or anything resembling a cupid again."

She laughed. "What a bizarre notion."

"It's true," he said bitterly.

They stopped at a window, and Mallory opened it. It was unseasonably warm that day, and some of the snow had managed to melt. "I'm going for a walk," she declared. "Want to come with me?"

He watched with narrowed eyes as some of the students ran about, playing in the wet snow. He decided that being in the vicinity of where a snowball attack would be possible was a very bad idea, so he graciously declined.

On her own, Mallory went to her room, got out her heavier traveling cloak, put it on, and headed outside. There were a lot of students out, playing in the snow. The grounds were practically a snowman community. She had barely gotten off the castle steps when a little first year came running up, crying. Abigail, Mallory remembered, was the girl's name. Mallory knelt down and asked tenderly, "What's wrong?"

Abigail sniffed. "Those Slytherin boys were picking on me."

"Well, you know what?" Mallory said in a half comforting, half serious tone. "They're not worth your tears." The girl sniffed again and looked at her teacher, a bit confused. "Tears are beautiful things," Mallory continued. She brought her finger up to the girl's face and caught one of the teardrops on her fingers. "They should only be shed for someone special enough." She blew on the droplet and it split into two halves, but remained connected. "People who are truly beautiful themselves . . ." She blew on it a second time, dividing it into four. "As beautiful as you or . . ." Suddenly a butterfly burst from the tear, spraying droplets onto Mallory and Abigail. With a delighted squeal, Abigail chased the blue insect about.

Mallory smiled and continued with her walk. After a few minutes of solitude, Abigail ran up to her, breathless. "Show me!" she demanded.

"Show you what?"

"How to do that! I've never seen magic like that before!"

"Well," Mallory said, sitting down in the snow, "there is some special magic that cannot be taught . . . you have to be born with it." As she spoke, Mallory packed some snow into a ball. As if it were hollow the entire time, she split it open and out flew a robin. Abigail laughed as it settled on her shoulder. Mallory leaned forward and said intently, "Now, this has to be our little secret, right? No one else can know I can do these things." Abigail pursed her lips and nodded to show she would keep her promise.

Standing up, Mallory brushed off the snow from her cloak. "Now go run along and play."

"Okay!" Abigail ran off, the robin following close behind.

Mallory stretched and made her way back inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few days later . . .

"Severus, if you really need to, just use a fork or something."

That horrid day that focused on romance and amour had arrived, and the Potions master's desire to relieve himself of an optical organ was at its peak. Already, at breakfast, couples were sitting so close someone was going to end up on the other's lap, shy gazes wee passed to people who had a secret crush, and little cards and gifts were being exchanged. "I swear," he told Mallory, "if I catch any of them trying to pass notes in my class, I'll give the whole lot detentions."

"You're just bitter because you don't get valentines."

"Oh, and I'm sure you just had to beat back your hordes of admirers with a stick."

"Well, there are two I might have to use the stick on." Sure enough, Fred and George Weasley were at their table and they were waggling their eyebrows at her suggestively. She smiled, gave a little wave, and even dared to blow them a kiss. The twins rewarded each other with a high-five.

"I can't believe you are encouraging them."

"Their continued devotion guarantees me chocolate. Why wouldn't I want to encourage that?" She finished off the rest of the grapefruit juice in her cup and stood. "Well, see you later, babe."

After she left, Severus continued to jab at his food, disgusted. He suddenly stopped. Wait a minute, did she call me babe?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Period 3, fifth year potions.

Severus seemed to be more concerned with Mallory's departing words than with his lessons. So much were his musings elsewhere that he didn't even notice when Ron passed a note to Hermione. That is, until the girl convulsed in a fit of giggles. "Miss Granger!" he roared. In swift strides, he made it back to where the trio was sitting. "And what, may I ask, is so amusing?" It had to have really been something because even as she handed him the paper, knowing that both her and Ron were in a heap of trouble, she continued laughing. The class (besides the hysterical Hermione) watched in silence as their teacher read the parchment. First, all the colour (or whatever was left) drained from his face, and just as quickly turned a nasty, angry red. "Fifty points, Weasley," he said in a murderous whisper, "and a detention. Twenty-five from you, Granger." That finally shut her up quick. He crumpled the paper in his hand, took out his wand, and set the note aflame. He wiped the ashes from his hand.

He looked around him. Every student just stared, wide-eyed. Not even Malfoy and his cronies snickered at Gryffindor's loss. Not one of them had ever heard that level of malice from him. They were all suddenly scared of Professor Snape and didn't want to provoke him at all. In the silence, Snape went back to his desk. "Get out." In one mass exodus, his class left in less than ten seconds. Who knew what he might do to any stragglers.

In the hall, no one even dared to breathe until they made it up the stairs. "Ron!" Harry exclaimed, "What the hell did you do?!?"

"I'm not saying," he mumbled.

"Hermione, what the hell did he write?"

"I'm not repeating it! You would have to wash my mouth out with soap if I did!"

"RON! You didn't write something like that about him, did you?"

"Maybe," he mumbled again.

Neville, who just happened to be walking beside them, started to hyperventilate. "Oh my god, we're all gonna die, we're all gonna die, we're all gonna die."

"No one's going to die, Neville," Harry said.

"He's gonna kill Ron, he's gonna kill Ron, he's gonna kill Ron."

"Neville, shut up! He's not going to kill anybody!"

"Flee for our lives, flee for our lives, we must flee . . ."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The school day was finally over. Severus sat at his desk in his office. There was a knock on the door. Without invitation, the door opened a crack and a blonde-topped head poked in. "Is it safe to come in? I heard you were plotting the deaths of all the fifth years." Before he could reply, she invited herself in.

"No, just the Gryffindors and Slytherins."

"Ooh, even your own snakies! Must have been quite bad." She was patronizing him.

"Yes, I even have an extensive layout of how I will rid the world of a certain Irish woman," he said, half-dangerously, half-joking. He wasn't sure if she was the best or the worst person to be seeing at the moment.

"And seventy-five points from the 'Golden House' on the day all about sweetness! My god, you are a bastard!"

Severus spread his arms wide and smiled sarcastically. "The world loves a bastard!" His expression returning to sour, he finally gave Mallory a good look-over. She had had her hands behind her back since she entered and was grinning madly.

"You want me to ask what you have behind your back, don't you?" She nodded. "Well, I'm not."

That didn't stop her from practically skipping up to the desk and placing two foil-wrapped chocolate swans on it. "Look at this." Sure enough, she was able to place the swans' beaks together so that their arched necks formed a heart. She giggled.

Completely disgusted, Severus rolled his eyes and snorted. "The Weasley twins." He got up and headed for his potions cabinet. He decided he should start reorganizing it. It would serve as distraction from the conversation. "I don't believe you," he muttered into the cupboard, but Mallory heard him anyway.

"What, because I'm getting giddy over Valentine candy?"

He scowled. "No, because you are actually allowing someone to show outward signs of affection."

"Dammit, Severus, are you still going on about that?" She crossed her arms, snorted, and mumbled to herself, "As if you could love anyone."

The jar he was holding shattered in his grip, sending glass and its contents onto the floor. He turned ever so slowly around. "What did you say?" Again that malicious whisper.

She folded her arms defiantly. "You heard me, babe."

Oh, he was upset. "Do you think this is a game? That this has all been a farce? As if this hasn't been difficult enough, you have to be so bloody closed and cold when I have actually taken the plunge and at least tried. You claim to have changed, but you are still the moody, self-absorbed child you've been for the last sixteen years!"

Mallory was close to tears. Good. "To think I wasted all this energy and time on you," he spat, as he got closer to her. He clutched her prized pendant in his fist. "Even money." He tore the silver necklace off her neck and flung it across the room. She gasped, and finally gave in to the tears. "Oh yes, great, cry. I don't give one bloody damn. At least you can cry. I wish I'd never met you. You've screwed me up even more than I already was."

He stopped talking and just bore his black eyes into hers. In a final act of defiance, she pushed him aside and dove for her necklace. Mallory sat on the floor, crying and clutching the pendant. Breathing heavily, she glared at Severus. "Oh, I hate you. You called me selfish? You never think about anything but yourself and how a situation can be brought to your benefit. I know you're enjoying this. This is what you love, Severus, making people suffer. I am suffering, Severus. I suffer because I love you, you arse."

Her words hung in the air for some time. They had hurt him. They'd hurt more than any insult. It hurt to think that he had just said those things to the woman he loved, and the woman loved him back. Slowly, he knelt down next to Mallory, silently took the necklace out of her hand, and fastened it around her neck. He put his arms around her. She rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

She let out a short laugh. "Does that mean I get another dinner?"

"I'd do anything."

She lifted her head and kissed him. Pulling back, she gave her signature impish smile. "How about a sleepover."

Did he catch that right? "I beg your pardon?"

She leaned in again and kissed him a bit more fiercely. He understood perfectly.

A/N: How horribly, horribly sappy of me to get them together on Valentine's Day! It's just disgusting! Anyhow, due to some other issues it will be awhile, a good while, before we get another chapter. I have some AP English work I want to get started on, so I'll see you all later! Thanks for your pleasant reviews, babes!