Rain
Gingerbread and One Step Closer
"Harry, where were you?"
Hermione's voice snapped at him, sharp and quick like a whip. He was barely listening to her, even having the gall to hum as she chided him.
"I can't believe you skipped Transfiguration tutorial! Professor McGonagall was expecting us there, after all the pestering you and Ron have done about animagi classes, Harry!" She glared down at him. "Well? Don't you have anything to say for yourself?!" Her voice was sqeaky from anger.
There was a moment of silence when all they could hear was the gentle, maddening rythm of the rain slapping the stone roof of Hogwarts many, many meters above.
"I was... helping a friend," Harry said at length, after he had mulled his answer over in his mind.
Hermione gawked and sputtered, Ron raised an eyebrow and (im)politely inquired if he had gone mad.
Harry smiled braudly and walked past, deciding to skip Divinations practice, too, as he heard the slamming of a door a few stories up...
The Snape curse was in effect once more.
Some things never would change! Koda thought bitterly as she bit her bottom lip, refusing to give in to tears. He had been so nice to her, the first few hours he was able to see her... Her father battered and bruised, she had been happy to give him sympathy and hugs. But then, of course, all good things must come to an end.
A screaming match three hours and fourty-nine minutes in. It was a record for them, probably... Father's screams still rung in her ears: You are my daughter and you will do what I say!
My. For an invalid who was forced to limp around with the aid of a cane for the next few weeks, he certaintly could yell as well, or better, than he used to. They kept their backs to one another as they stamped their seperate ways - Koda, up to her guest room, Severus, down to his rooms in the dungeons. By the scowls on their faces it was easy to read what had happened.
Harry looked up and sighed. And he had hoped at least one fragment of a family would come out happy in the end...
Both Snapes went to sulk - to say the least.
The cycle of guilt went as thus: They would have a screaming match, part, sulk induvidually, each have a guilt trip and decide that they needed to apologize to the other but, unfortunately, Koda was as prideful as her father... An apology was not going to happen soon.
Unless...
Koda was staring off into the rain, half-dozing, half-remembering. Ginger. Someone had perfumed her room with ginger. Bloody stupid house elves... But... Ginger... Gingerbread. Her mother.
She closed her eyes.
Gingerbread. She remembered - every time her mother made it, the sweetbread would lure her father downstairs by the very smell. He would be waiting as soon as it came out, mischief glinting in his eyes, his work abandoned carelessly upstairs. Mother would pretend not to notice him, Koda would, and he would shush her, abiet with a wink. As soon as Mother left the gingerbread unguarded, however, it began floating in midair twards where Father was hiding...
As soon as he caught it, the chase was on. With a childish whoop, Father scrambled to get out of the way as Mother, laughing, grabbed a rolling pin, and little Koda trailed behind, hindering more than helping. Somehow, he managed to run along holding a hot tray of gingerbread while persued by a mildly angered wife and a shreiking daughter... How he managed this, Koda still hadn't figured out. He would always elude them, managing to make his way up to his workroom - and then - SLAM! Both he and the gingerbread would be gone, lost behind a locked door, and Koda and Mother would groan as they listened to his happy munching.
Mother always scurried off to tend to their bruised egos, and to start collecting ingredients for another batch of gingerbread. However, Koda always managed to beg a story out of her, and while they were reading about Tigger and Pooh, Father would - very quietly, because he was good at being quiet - sneak down the stairs, gingerbread in hand, and set it just outside the door of the living room. It would be still warm, still fragrant, still delicious, but always - always! - with exactly one square missing.
And later, they would act as if nothing had ever happened. Although, Father would refuse a second piece at dinner...
Falling out of her daydream, Koda smiled. Mmm. Things had been so pleasant then - so simple... Back when her parents were careful to shelter her to the evils of the world. She sighed. Why couldn't things be so simple again?
A little voice somewhere sneakily repeated back to her, like an echo: Why can't things be so simple again? Make them that way, Koda.
Koda blinked, then smiled. Yes... Gingerbread.
A woman on a mission, she stormed out of the guest rooms, occasionally shoving students out of her way. She paused to roughly ask one where the kitchens were, he told her, she marched on. Finally she reached them, and there she paused, running over the ingredients in her head. The house elves, while they were mildly terrified of her, were infinitely helpful, allowing her free reign of the minute kitchen.
She sighed, letting her hands fall into the easy rythm of cooking... mixing... baking. It was times like this she understood why her father was addicted to potions making - it was theraputic, almost natural. She sighed again, breaking an egg into the bowl. Father... She sniffled. Why was she crying? Goodness, Koda, she chided mentally, you're losing it, you really are. But it didn't matter.
There and then, she cried - with the house elves staring in amazement at her - she cried for herself, for Father, for Cei, for everyone. Her heart ached - plain, simple and true. A few tears ran down her cheeks and splashed into the batter. Terrified, she immediately qualmed her sobs...
Gingerly, she poked the batter after stirring it once or twice, bringing some of the dark goop up on a fingertip to her lips. She blinked - and blinked again - and gave a happy, hysterical sort of laugh. It was perfect! It was perfect, after she had thought that the salt from her tears would ruin in. She grinned, rummaging around for some sort of glass dish to bake it in. Hadn't Mother always reminded her that a little salt makes everything sweeter...
It seemed like no time at all before the gingerbread was done. Now anxious, she gently took the tray of sweetbread out of the oven, carefully levitating it in front of her. She trailed through the halls of Hogwarts, exactly like her father, as she managed to make her footsteps nearly silent. She came to a door in the dungeons and carefully, very carefully, set it down...
Inside the office, Severus Snape jerked himself awake. After the fight, he had tried to distract himself with grading the various essays he had assigned in his absence, but the end result was that the fourth-year Hufflepuffs merely bored him to sleep. But... what was that smell? Gingerbread? Could it be? And it wasn't Hogwarts gingerbread, either, no, it was too familiar... He sniffled sleepily, reaching up to wipe his eyes. He must still be dreaming... that smelled like Claudia's...
Limping and leaning on the wall, he shoved open his door to the sounds of Koda's retreating footsteps, and... and... Gingerbread!
He gaped. And then he yelled. Actually, it was more of a defeated bleat, but for it to carry in the hallways, he had to yell.
"Ko-daaaaa! Come back here!"
She slinked back, not wishing to look at him. Immediately, however, he began to admonish her.
"Koda, you silly girl. How do you expect me to eat all this gingerbread alone?"
He affectionately pulled her into a hug, reaching up to tousle Koda's hair as she grinned. "Come on," he said, voice softening as he held the door open for her. Calmly, as if she had ment to do it all along, she scooped up the tray of gingerbread and walked in...
It was, at least, one step closer to being back to the way things were.
----
A/N: Coo-eeee! Two chapters...!!
Anyhoo, enjoy an' please review, thankee. For clarification, Cei is still alive, he just doesn't get talked about much this chapter...
Next chapter gets back to Cei and Koda, I promise.
{insert witty and legal disclaimer here}