Ok heres the next chapter. I was too impatient to wait so I decided to put this up today instead of Monday, like I had been thinking. The next chapter is far from done so it will be a little bit longer of a wait for that. But hopefully not too long. I am planning on working on it tonight. Please tell me what you think so far?

Chapter Nineteen

The two weeks passed so quickly, that suddenly it was Christmas morning. Alex was awoken that winter morning with several owls delivering wrapped packages from her family at home. They had sent her some odd little trinkets, but Alex knew that there was probably more waiting for her back home. It was rather expensive to send packages over large distances and she didn't pretend to know how owl post worked overseas.

Alex threw open the window, revealing the blanket of white snow that had covered the ground. It was a picture perfect Christmas!! Alex rummaged around under her bed, pulling out a large, rectangle shaped box wrapped in bright wrapping paper that had Merry Christmas written on it in glittery colors. Not even bothering to change out of her pajama pants and tee shirt, Alex rushed out of the room and down to the dungeons still barefoot.

She stopped in front of the portrait that served as the Potions Master's entrance to his quarters. Knocking lightly, Alex waited for him to answer, shifting impatiently from one foot to another trying to avoid the cold draft of the floor. Finally the portrait swung aside, revealing Snape dressed in a dark green robe. His eyebrow rose in that condescending way that it usually does, at the sight of her.

"Merry Christmas Severus!" Alex gushed happily, pushing her way into the room.

"May I ask what you are doing here so bloody early? The sun has only just risen." Snape commented, letting the portrait swing back into place.

"Oh please. You have probably been up for hours. So don't try feeding me some cock and bull story about how you were sleeping." Alex playfully lectured.

"But I was sleeping. As far as I see it, I had no reason to be up early this morning." Snape argued back, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Fine then. I'll just leave and take your Christmas present with me." Alex said making her way back to the door.

"Present? You got me a present?" Snape asked, actually sounding a tad bit shocked.

"Of course I did! You didn't really think that I was going to get you nothing, did you?" Alex stated. A cheeky grin spread across her face. Snape eyed the box she held, suspiciously.

"What is it?" he asked. Alex pulled him over to the chair.

"Open it and see." Alex was as giddy as a young child and strangely enough, it did not seem to annoy Snape, as one might had thought it would. Snape took the box from Alex and laid it on his lap. The bright wrapping gleamed up at him, and he couldn't help but grimace at the sparkly letters.

"Oh stop and just open it." Alex laughed kneeling by his side. Snape glanced at her and slowly ripped open the paper, revealing a plain white box.

"Oh how precious. You got me a box." Snape taunted, smirking down at her.

"Okay I am laughing. Really. Now stop being a git." Alex frowned, moving the paper away and tossing it on the floor.

"I do believe you have been here too long, Alexandra. You are beginning to sound like a bloody Englishman." Snape chuckled. Alex hit him in the shoulder as he lifted the cover of the box revealing a dark green dress robe.

"I thought that you could use a change from black so I had this made for you." Alex explained, sitting back on her heels, to watch and see if he liked them. Snape took the robe out of the box and held it out in front of him. The lining on the inside of the robe was silver and seemed to be a satin material when the outer material was almost like velvet.

"Look at the back." Alex said eagerly. Snape turned it around and on the back was the Slytherin crest in a color just a hint lighter then the dark green of the robes.

"It's embossed into the material rather then just sewn on." Alex explained.

"It's extraordinary." he stated, running his hand over the raised material. Alex couldn't help but grin at his pleased expression.

"I am glad you like it." Snape placed the robe back into the box, and stood up from the chair.

"Where are you going?" Alex asked watching him moved over to the side of the room.

"Well, you do want your present, don't you?" he asked looking over his shoulder at her. Alex's eyes widened in surprise.

"You got me a present?"

"Surely you did not believe that I would allow you to give me a gift without anything in return." He smirked as he rummaged though a drawer at his desk in the far corner of the room.

"Well actually, yeah I did." Alex admitted with a laugh. She moved into the seat that Snape had vacated, watching him pull a small box from the drawer. He moved back over to her and handed her the box, standing behind her as she tore eagerly at the green paper it was wrapped in.

The box was a dark blue and Alex lifted the lid, revealing a crystal pendant in the shape of a teardrop, on a silver chain.

"It's beautiful." Alex said as she lifted the necklace from the box. The crystal sparkled in the light, casting a rainbow glare across the walls.

"Will you…?" Alex asked Snape, looking over her shoulder at him. He nodded slightly and took the necklace from her hand. He draped the necklace around her neck, brushing her hair away in order to fasten the clasp. Alex's hand went to the crystal; it felt slightly warm against her skin.

"Thank you." Alex smiled gently. Their eyes locked for a moment and finally Alex looked away.

"You are going to the ball tonight, aren't you?" she asked suddenly.

"Unfortunately. The headmaster feels that I need to socialize more and left me no choice but to be present tonight." Snape explained with a frown etched on his face.

"Well don't sound so excited about it." Alex said rolling her eyes at his unpleasantness.

"I do not fancy spending my evening chaperoning a bunch of children. I would rather be doing something more productive." He replied.

"Something more productive?" Alex questioned. "But it's Christmas. You're not supposed to do anything productive on holidays!"

"I do believe, Miss Harper, that you are starting to sound like the impertinent students that attend this school." Snape smirked, looking down at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh but you know you like it." Alex grinned and winked, standing up from the chair.

"I am beginning to believe that you do not know me at all." He stated, slightly amused.

"Oh I know you better then you would like to think." Alex smirked. "But if you would excuse me, I have other gifts to hand out before I start to get ready for the ball tonight."

"Very well. I will see you tonight then." He replied curtly.

"Yes you will." Alex smiled and as she was about to pull the door closed behind her, she turned back to him. "Oh and Sev? Thank you for the necklace." Snape allowed a brief smile as she closed the door and made her way back upstairs.

Next Chapter: The Yule Ball and Alex tells Severus how she really feels. How will he react???

Please review!!!!!