When they returned to Hogwarts, it had grown late. The sky was black, and not a cloud marred veiled the twinkling stars. The air was cold, and crisp, but clean-feeling, somehow, and despite being cold, Aislinn knew that there was a smile on her face. It had been a long day, of course, but she felt better for it, somehow, despite the fact that she was so tired she could barely stand. In fact, she wasn't really sure what was keeping her standing. Severus, perhaps, with his hand under her elbow. Or sheer dint of will as she walked along, stepping through the shifting islands of moonlight that drifted through the winter-bare trees.

A movement in the heavens caught her eye, and she suddenly stopped and tugged on Severus' sleeve. "Look!" she whispered, pointing up at the sky. "Make a wish, quick!" The shooting star blazed brightly, then faded into darkness, leaving a glowing afterimage arching behind it.

For a moment, Severus looked at her blankly, and then the darkness could not hide his smile. "You don't really believe in that, do you?"

"In what?" she asked, sliding her hand onto his arm once more.

"Wishing on a star?" he asked, and his voice held the same skepticism that she'd heard when he was asking her if she really believed in astrology.

"You would probably be surprised at the things I believe," she whispered.

"Probably," he agreed, imprisoned laughter adding a fringe of humor to his soft, dry tone. "But I'd love to hear them some time."

Aislinn laughed softly. "Well," she whispered, "let's see. I believe in four-leaf clovers…" he snorted softly, "and in wishing wells, and Santa Claus, and…"

"Santa Clause?!" He didn't even try to hide his humor that time, and Aislinn, in a fit of juvenile petulance, stuck her tongue out at him.

"And why not?" she asked, stopping, her feet planted firmly into the silver-frosted, winter-bleached grass. Between the moonlight and the glow of the frost, the world seemed a little brighter somehow, and Severus stood out against it in stark relief.

"Because they're preposterous!" he replied, still laughing. "Santa Claus? Merlin's beard, Aislinn, I could take the Astrology, and I suppose the shooting star has a romance to it, and the four-leaf clover is quaint and the wishing well intriguing… but Santa Claus?"

Aislinn put her hands on her hips. "Yes, Santa Claus! What, may I ask, is wrong with Santa Claus?"

For a long moment, Severus stared at her, and then shook his head slightly. "Nothing at all," he whispered, bending to kiss her softly, and as she surrendered to his kiss, she felt herself smiling. He must have felt it, for he pulled back from her and lifted an eyebrow. "Something amusing?" he inquired softly.

She laughed and leaned close to him, blowing a soft caress of warm breath against his ear. "My wish just came true," she whispered, her breath making puffs of white in the night. She winked at him, and started walking again, leaving him to stand there, dumbfounded for a moment, and then rushing to catch up with her.

"What do you mean?" he asked when he reached her side again.

She grinned at him and reached for his hand, smiling as their fingers laced together. "Well," she replied, her voice full of carefully conjured hesitation, "one normally doesn't tell what one wishes for, because it supposedly breaks the spell, you know."

He snorted again softly, and she squeezed his fingers.

"But I suppose that since my wish already came true, it wouldn't hurt." She paused again and pulled him closer, slipping her arms around his neck. "I wished that a certain someone would kiss me," she confessed quietly, looking into his eyes.

He lifted a hand to her face, brushing her cheek with the backs of his fingertips. "If that is what you wish, my lady, all you need do is tell me." He leaned forward again, and their lips touched once more.

She pulled away from him, and slipped her hand into his again, and they walked in silence for a moment, and then, once again, movement caught her eye. She pointed. "Look," she whispered, and his head turned to follow her gaze. The bright pinpoint of light had grown more brilliant, then, just as the previous one, it suddenly arched downward and faded into the night. "That's uncommon," she said softly. "Two so close together."

He squeezed her hand again. "Did you make a wish?" he asked, and though the humor was edging his voice again, it wasn't quite as taunting as it had been a moment before.

She smiled saucily at him. "I did," she replied evenly. "Did you?"

"And what if I did?"

It was her turn to raise a surprised eyebrow. "If you did, I could have a lot of fun trying to find out what it was and to make a believer of you."

"So arrogant, aren't you?" he asked, grinning. "And what makes you think it involved you?" She sputtered for a moment, then laughed, and he slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him. "Come on," he whispered in her ear, "it's too cold for us to be lingering out here."

She shot him a look of profound and exaggerated innocence. "Is it cold?" she asked. "Funny, I hadn't noticed it."

He snorted softly again. "And I suppose that's why you're shivering?"

They covered a few more yards before a third blaze of light flared before them, and this time Aislinn stopped in her tracks. "How peculiar," she whispered, quickly defining her silent wish before the shooting star vanished again.

Severus tugged softly at her arm. "Inside," he whispered urgently, guiding her along. "It is too cold to be standing out here. We'll both be frostbitten."

"Nonsense," she replied, almost absently, "it isn't that cold. It would take us half an hour to get frostbite."

"And how long have we spent walking already?" he inquired softly.

She stared at him for a moment, then shrugged. "Not half an hour," she replied.

"No, but I'd say a good fifteen minutes, and we're barely halfway back to the castle. Come on," he tugged her arm again. "Neither of us is dressed for this."

She sighed softly, and wondered if it really had been that long. Surely not. After all, it had only taken them a couple of minutes to walk from the castle to the forest before, so why should it take so long to walk back? Maybe because you keep stopping to make wishes on shooting stars, and to kiss him, and because you're generally piddling. She quickened her pace, though, and they were nearly within the courtyard when yet another shooting star illuminated the sky, and she turned around, looking back towards the woods.

"Severus, look," she whispered, softly, pointing.

He sighed softly and turned around, and when she glanced at his face, he was frowning and muttering something to himself.

"What is it?" she asked.

"What is today?" he asked in reply, and she stared at him for a moment.

"Saturday…"

"The date."

She frowned in concentration for a moment. "The eleventh," she proclaimed after a brief silence. "Why?"

His frown deepened. "Dumbledore said it wasn't until the thirteenth," he muttered.

"What wasn't?"

Finally he turned to look at her. "A meteor shower," he replied vaguely. "He… er… that is, I was going to ask you if you would like to have a very early breakfast in the astronomy tower on Monday morning."

Aislinn smiled slightly. "I'd love to," she replied.

He laughed a little bitterly. "But if it's happening now…"

She tugged softly at his hand. "It probably peaks early Monday morning," she replied, shrugging slightly. "They're usually at their most brilliant in predawn hours, but they generally last a few days."

Another pair of meteors shot from a common origin and then separated, leaving two distinct blazing trails behind them. "Was that worth two wishes?" he asked softly, and when Aislinn looked at him, her eyes searching his face, she found no hint of mocking.

"I suppose so," she whispered. "I don't know that there are many rules to wishing."

He nodded, and then turned to her again, and took her hands in his. Again, there was no conscious decision, and it would have been difficult to say which of them originated the kiss, but soon she was running her hands through his hair, pulling his head closer to her, unmindful of the chill in the air, or of the glimmering of sporadic shooting stars.

He broke contact, finally, and whispered, his head still leaning against hers, "We need to go inside."

She sighed softly, but nodded, knowing that he was right. Already her fingers were beginning to feel numb, and her toes too. The cold seemed to be seeping into her like water into a cloth, and she tucked her hand into his once more. This time, they actually made it into the castle, neither of them looking back.

They both had wishes enough for one night.

When they finally reached the warmth of the castle, Severus allowed himself a slight sigh of relief. He'd been growing increasingly nervous that, despite what Aislinn might insist, they had been out in the cold wind long enough to face frostbite. And, even more disturbing somehow than the idea of losing fingers or toes to the cold was the idea that it didn't seem to matter at all to either of them. He could have stood there all night, wrapped in her arms, his own arms around her, their souls joined at the lips, and if it had cost him limb, he wasn't sure the price wouldn't have been worth it. But it seemed foolish to tempt nature when shelter was so near at hand.

He paused just inside the doorway and took her hands again, sandwiching them between his own palms, and frowning at the cold that seemed to seep through them. Even though his own hands felt like they were carved of ice, he could feel the iciness of her fingers. He lifted them to his mouth, and blew softly against them, and she smiled, though looked a bit confused.

"Why don't we go to the kitchens," he suggested softly, "and see what we can find by way of warm drinks?" And warm fires, he thought, and maybe some warm dish you can put your hands on, and maybe a House Elf that can be sent for Poppy without you realizing it.

Aislinn nodded, much to his relief. This was going to be far easier if she cooperated. She allowed him to lead her to the kitchens, and, as they stepped through the concealed portal, a small army of House Elves approached them, grinning and bowing, falling over themselves to be of service.

"Is there a chance of cider?" he asked one of them, and she squeaked in gratitude, making a rather awkward curtsey with the skirt of the pair of napkins that served as a dress for her. As she bobbed away, Severus bent to another of the elves. "Will you please see Miss Ichalia to the fire? She's chilled to the bone, I fear." That was enough to set no fewer than four of the elves scuttling, pulling Aislinn along with them.

"And Master Severus is being cold too, Bitty is thinking."

Severus looked down to the elf who'd spoken, and then knelt in front of her. "Bitty," he said solemnly, "I have an important task for you. I need you to go fetch Madame Pomfrey," he said in a low voice, "and tell her that Aislinn Ichalia has been outside too long and to come to the kitchens. And Bitty…" the elf looked, wide-eyed at the Potions master. "Tell her that it would be best if she came on the pretense of finding herself something to eat or some such." Aislinn didn't take kindly to hospital wings, Severus had learned the hard way. Bitty hopped away, and Severus rose again, casting a furtive glance to Aislinn, who was so busy being cared for by the gaggle of elves around her that she didn't seem the slightest bit aware of him. Good, he thought, and made his way to the fire to sit beside her.

He had no more settled himself than he suddenly found a cup of cider in his hands, emitting such a tempting fragrance that invited him to inhale the steam. He wrapped his fingers gratefully around the warm mug and breathed in the spicy scent, but didn't sip it, being too busy watching Aislinn. She was having a hard time holding the cup, he noticed, and she'd begun to shiver. Shivering was a good sign, he supposed, but he rather wished she'd done more of that outside.

A moment later, Poppy came pushing in, and Severus knew she must have run to get here so quickly, but from the casual way she entered, she could very well have been looking for a cup of tea. "Well, good evening, Severus," she called, coming over to them. "And Aislinn. I didn't expect to find anyone else down here."

Severus smiled tightly, silently willing the nurse not to overdo it. Aislinn, however, was smiling broadly. "Hullo, Poppy!" she said brightly, through her chattering teeth.

Poppy took that as her cue, and her discerning, sharp eyes narrowed. "Rather cold, are you?" she asked Aislinn, moving closer and putting a firm and experienced hand to the younger witch's forehead.

Aislinn, predictably enough, ducked away. "I'm fine," she said, visibly taking control of her shivering and doing an admirable job of it, Severus had to admit.

"We just got in from a brief walk," he said, almost off-handedly, trying to give Poppy what she would need to justify pursuing an examination without admitting that she'd been summoned. The nurse took the bait beautifully.

"A walk! In this cold? No wonder you're chilled." She looked pointedly around the kitchen, then frowned, her hands bracing against her hips. "And I don't see any cloaks," she informed Aislinn, though her glare slipped to include Severus as well.

Don't look at me like that, he thought irritably, I'm the one who had the sense to know you needed to take a look at her fingers. Just do it and be done with it. And tomorrow you can berate me for wasting your time and for… His thoughts were interrupted as he realized that Aislinn was glaring slightly at him as well. She can't possibly know… no. It dawned on him slowly, and he grimaced, shrugging. She had said when they left the castle that they needed cloaks and he'd been the one to talk her out of that.

Poppy was disentangling Aislinn's hands from her cider cup, though, and that was enough to keep the brunt of the dark-haired beauty's glare focused on the mediwitch. Severus finally sipped some of the cider, then frowned contemplatively at it, wondering if he'd ever actually tasted the stuff before. Somehow, he'd been expecting something spicier instead of something so… he sipped again. So appley. While Poppy examined Aislinn's fingers, massaging her fingertips, then ordering her to close her eyes with strict instructions to tell her when she felt something. Aislinn apparently passed the test, and then Pomfrey moved on to her feet, ignoring her protests and lifting the hem of her robes.

A clucking brought Severus' attention back to the pair of them, just in time to see Poppy scowling at him and Aislinn both. "Honestly," she muttered, "if you have to go walking in the night without a cloak, you could at least wear decent shoes." Severus looked at Aislinn's shoes for the first time and grimaced as he saw her neatly painted toenails poking out of the end of them. He was going to catch some hell from Poppy for this, he could tell already.

Luckily, though, Aislinn's toes seemed to pass inspection as well, and Poppy put the cider back in her hands. "You're lucky," she told the younger woman, and Severus could almost hear the lecture coming. What finally emerged from Pomfrey's lips, though, was fairly mild, if still stinging. "I would have expected more sense from at least one of you two," she muttered, and Severus grimaced, noticing that Aislinn's reaction was largely the same.

He tried to catch Poppy's eye and smile his thanks to her, but she was moving over to him now, and, to his surprise, he found his cup of cider sitting on the floor and the nurse kneeling in front of him, his hands in hers. "What are you doing?" he blurted out, not thinking. Poppy just smiled one of her more infuriating smiles.

"You didn't think that frostbite had a gender preference, did you Severus?" She was turning his hands over and frowning slightly, then ordered, "Close your eyes, and tell me when you feel something." He sighed, marginally mortified and certain that Aislinn was smirking at him now. And he waited for Poppy to do something. The next thing he knew, though, she was pulling his foot into her lap, and he felt his boot loosening from his foot. Before he could protest, Poppy was massaging his toes, and, instinctively, he jerked his foot away from her.

"That bloody tickles," he informed her, ignoring the grin on Aislinn's face. Poppy glowered at him for a moment, then nodded.

"Well, at least you can feel that," she murmured, and then took his hands again, frowning at them. "Can you feel this?" she asked, and he watched as she took one of his fingertips between her thumb and forefinger.

He was about to retort that of course he could feel it, but the realization slinked over him that he could not, in fact. He shook his head slightly, and, by the fire, Aislinn's grin was fading suddenly.

"What about that?"

He was aware of a slight pressure on his finger, but he couldn't say he could actually felt it. "Not really," he admitted.

"Bloody…" Pomfrey began, then pointed at one of the elves. "You, get me a cloth and a bowl of warm water. And a stool!" Three elves skittered to do her bidding, and within a minute, the nurse was sitting in front of Severus, her hands encased in a towel soaked in water that steamed softly. She held his right hand between her hands, and was rubbing vigorously, muttering the entire time about stupid stunt's she'd expect from students. Aislinn had stood and walked over to them, and was kneeling at Severus' knee now, biting her lip.

"Is he going to be okay?" she asked Pomfrey, as though he wasn't sitting right there and fully conscious.

"He'll be fine," the nurse replied, and his irritation over their talking about him like he wasn't in the room was briefly replaced by relief over her prognosis. His relief was short lived, however, as feeling suddenly exploded into his right hand, and he cursed vehemently under his breath. It felt like his hand had been plunged into boiling water and pricked by a thousand pins at once. Rather like it had gone to sleep and was coming back to life, only much more violent than the 'pins and needles'. Poppy just snorted and stopped her rubbing, letting the cloth fall to her lap. She reached out and took his chin firmly between her fingers. "You remember how that hurts, Severus Snape," she hissed at him, "and the next time you feel a burning need to wander around outside at midnight in December, wear gloves." She let go of his chin, and took his left hand in hers, and repeated the rough remedy.

It didn't take so long before the feeling returned to his left hand, and she retrieved the cider from where it was on the floor and removed her wand from her pocket. She muttered a warming spell and then placed the newly steaming mug into Severus' hands again. "I suppose that's as good for you as anything," she told him, pocketing her wand again and folding her arms. "Though I'd have chosen tea. You get over there by the fire," she glanced up at the figure hovering over his shoulder, "and you too, Aislinn," she said pointedly, "and the two of you had better sit there for at least half an hour and have two mugs of that cider each. And then, for the bloody love of Merlin, stay inside for the rest of the night." There was a note of pleading in her voice, and, as Severus stood and she ushered him and Aislinn to the fire, he found himself nodding guiltily, much like he had as a schoolboy when he'd been caught doing something foolish. He noticed that Aislinn was looking properly abashed as well.

When they were both seated and the House Elves had been told to keep an eye on them, Poppy took a cup of tea and bustled out of the kitchens. When the door clicked shut, Aislinn looked at Severus over the top of her mug, and damned if she wasn't laughing. Silently, but still. He took a sip of his cider before her infectious laughter pulled him in too, and he was chuckling with her.

"I don't think I've seen her that put off with me since I was fifteen and tried to…" she trailed off, suddenly burying her face in her mug again.

"Tried to what?" he asked, and she only shook her head, her face turning red. "Oh, no you don't. I've been wondering for two months what happened when you were fifteen."

Her eyes widened, and she lowered her cup. "What happened two months ago to make you start wondering that?" she asked incredulously.

He leaned forward and crooked a finger at her, indicating she should lean closer. When she did, he whispered in her ear, "You nearly broke your neck in the dungeons." He laughed as she huffed and resumed her seat, but she was smiling.

"You've been curious this whole time and never asked?"

Severus shrugged. "I can be a patient man," he replied off-handedly.

"Then you won't mind being patient a while longer." She finished off her cider and gestured one of the elves over. Severus tipped back his cup as well and let the elf take his empty cup as well, and waited until they had fresh cups in their hands before he replied.

"I believe I have waited long enough. Now, tell me, what happened?"

Her face turned red again, and she muttered into her cup, "My-rye-eee-plo-idd-oo-dee-low."

"What?" he asked, reaching for her cup and taking it away from her. "Once more, and in English this time."

"I tried to feed Exploding Fluid to a Grindylaw!" she blurted out and reached to jerk her cup of cider away from him again.

He stared at her for a moment, the urge to laugh until he fell off his chair combating valiantly with the urge to berate her for stupidity. "You didn't," he whispered in disbelief.

"Look," she protested, "I always had more guts than common sense."

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" His voice had taken on some of the quiet chill that made students quake.

She snorted softly. "Of course I do," she replied. "And I knew it was dangerous when I did it. But 'danger' had quite a different meaning for me ten years ago. And don't you think about scolding me, Severus Snape," she suddenly rounded on him. "I already got that from Dumbledore, McGonagall and Pomfrey, thank you very much."

He grimaced and opened his mouth to protest that he had not been about to scold her, but closed it sharply when he realized that was precisely what he'd intended to do. With a sigh, he finished off the second prescribed cup of cider. "I wish students would leave me and potions out of their pranks," he muttered.

Aislinn laughed softly. "But potions make some of the best pranks!" she insisted. "Think of all the fun you can have with a Confusing Concoction!"

Severus rewarded her with a glare, and momentarily considered telling her that potions were not to be taken lightly and many of them contained ingredients that could be deadly in large quantities. Any thoughts he had of such a statement, though, were pre-empted by her standing and stretching.

"I don't know about you," she said softly, "but I've had quite a long day and very little sleep."

His heart fell suddenly, and it was as though the cloud of euphoria he'd been floating on suddenly disappeared and he returned to earth with a resounding thud. "Yes," he admitted, "I suppose it has been a full day."

She reached for his hand, and he stood, lacing his fingers though hers. "Walk me to my rooms?" she asked softly, and he felt an infuriatingly idiotic grin spread across his face.

"Certainly," he replied, then leaned to whisper in her ear, "but only if you promise you won't make me leave."

As it happened, she did not make him leave.