Christine found her book, just as it had been left, no tears, no marks, no water damage, it was still in perfect condition. She looked around and decided that the lake was a wonderful place to sit and read, the water was making quiet rippling sounds, the occasional duck would pass by for a quick drink, and there was a nice cozy tree that she could lean up against. She opened her book and began to read, she entered the world of Hobbits and Goblins. Christine, like many people, liked to put herself into the books, as if she was the main character. Now she was about to do battle with three, big, nasty spiders she was pulled out the world in her head. For Christine, battling spiders in her head was scary enough, but when someone did so much as breathe wrong, she flipped out. This poor soul had made the mistake of touching her shoulder, she let out a blood curdling scream, grabbed the person by the arm, and hurtled them over her head, consequently throwing them into the lake. It took her a second to realize what exactly she had done; she had thrown someone into a lake! It was either Severus or Lucius, both were wizards, and neither knew how to swim. They were drowning. She ran and jumped in the lake, and swam as fast as she could toward the thrashing body. She grabbed their waist and dragged them over to the edge and hoisted them up onto the ground, and then she pulled herself up too.
"That was an extremely stupid thing to do."
"I know that NOW"
"You should have known that before, everyone knows not to touch me when I'm enthralled by a book!"
Lucius sat himself up, gasping for air, he was quite a sight. His robes were soaked to the bone, ruined no doubt, and his hair was a mess, a bit of seaweed in it.
"How did you do that?"
She was a bit confused by his question and it showed on her face, "Do what?"
"You know, save me."
"I swam."
He still looked somewhat confused, "But how? Who taught you?"
"No one did, I just know. It's somewhat of a second nature. Now I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone in my family about that, I was forbidden from swimming when I was little and I would be in deep trouble if they knew, even if it was to save your life."
"Fine."
"What were you doing down here anyway?"
He looked down at the grass, she could have sworn she saw the slightest bit of blush creep onto his cheeks, "Just checking on you, making sure your still not upset about yesterday."
"I'm fine Lucius, don't worry about me. I'm a big girl; I can take care of myself."
"Yes, but sometimes even big girls need to talk."
She looked at him like he was insane, "Lucius, your the Slytherin Prince, why on earth would you want to listen to another person, except of course for your own personal benefit."
"Christine, you need to learn that the outside does not always match the inside. I think that if you truly got to know me, you wouldn't think me to be such a cold, hard, bastard."
"Hard to believe you have a heart after using all the girls in our year for sex."
He stared at her in disbelief, "You don't really believe that do you?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"
He looked back down at the ground, "Because it's not true."
"What are you talking about?"
He looked back up at her, "Would you like to what really happened?"
"As long as you don't share intimate details, then yes, I would like to know."
He once again became interested in the grass, "Well, it all started third year, when I was dating Narcissa Black. We had been going out for a long time and we were pretty serious, our parents were discussing an early engagement. Well, one night, we were taking a walk around the grounds, star gazing and such. Well we started to kiss and such and she wanted to get farther than allowed so I stopper her, part because we were out in the open, and part because she wouldn't be able to marry respectably if she wasn't, well, pure. She got angry because she thought that I was inadvertently saying that I didn't want to marry her and had no intention to. So she went back to her friends saying that I tried to have sex with her and that I was a man whore who has screwed every half blood and muggle born in Hogwarts, and well, you know how girls are, the rumor spread from there."
"I remember that. She bolted into the room sobbing, screaming about how horrible you were, using an array of very colorful vocabulary no less, I didn't completely believe her though, and you really seemed to care for her. Besides, once her friends promised to tell everyone what a man whore you were, she shut up and was back to her regular peppy self, God, Sometimes I wonder how she got put into Slytherin instead of Hufflepuff."
He seemed to smirk a bit, obviously remembering something. "She was close to being put there. She told me that she had to beg the sorting hat to put her in slytherin, barley made it too, that's why it took so long for her to be sorted. I guess she just didn't want to be the disgrace of her family like her cousin."
Christine laughed, "Thats Great! I always hated her. Narcissa, a Hufflepuff, how wonderful would that have been?"
Lucius' smile grew, "You don't seem to like her very much."
She snorted, "You're a quick one. And no, I never liked her. Actually, I never liked any of the girls in my year for that matter. All they care about is finding a rich pureblood to marry, or who is wearing what, or who is dating who. Try talking to them about a book and its like talking to an orange, though I believe an orange has a higher IQ than all of the girls in my dorm combined."
Lucius couldn't contain his laughter and let out a bit of a chuckle, "Christine, sometimes I wonder about you."
"Wonder about what?"
"How you were not put into ravenclaw. All I ever see you do is read or practice potions."
"Then I guess you don't pay very much attention to me then eh? The truth is, the hat considered Ravenclaw, but then he said that there was something in me that compelled him to put me in slytherin, that I was sort of meant for this house. It was quite odd really, but I was glad to be put there, it was the only time my father, well, never mind, you wouldn't care."
He looked at her, "No, please, tell me, I want to know."
She all of a sudden became very interested in the grass, "Well, it was just the only time he ever said he was proud of me. He actually acknowledged the fact that I was his daughter with pride. That was the best day of my life, without a question."
The two of them sat in silence for a bit, Christine was enthralled by the lake, watching the fish pop up occasionally, watching the wind ripple over it, making it look like silk. She was about to get up and put her feet in when she felt someone coming up behind her.
"Good Afternoon Severus."
She smiled; he must have taken him by surprise because he had stopped walking. When he spoke, he sounded shocked. "How do you do that?"
"I felt someone walking behind me, and seeing as how Lucius is right here and everyone else is gone, it was just a simple process of elimination."
She stood up and stretched herself out, dusting off the grass and dirt from her clothes and walked over to Severus.
"So, is there something you wanted?"
"Yes, the school letters just came in. We are going to Diagon Alley tomorrow."
"Oh Lovely will everyone else be coming too?"
"No, I just received an own from Fredrick too, Him, Alex and Jordan are staying at one of their friends apartments for a week. They will be back, though, two days before we leave."
Christine was shocked, a whole week without Jordan breathing down her neck or Alex apologizing for everything. For the first time in her life, she was going to spend more than a few hours away from her family! Joy filled her and it was all she could do to keep from screaming. She did, however, smile as big as she could and gave Severus one of those running hugs. She jumped on top of him and wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.
Severus had to take a step back to steady him. He had never been hugged before, especially like this. He didn't know what to do, but figured he should hug her back. He slid his arms around her waist and squeezed the slightest bit. She was laughing in his ear and some of her hair had fallen from her face. He could smell her and he thought she smelled wonderful, just a light mix of pear and strawberries. He felt her jump off of him and he was a bit reluctant to let go put pulled his arms away before anyone began to suspect anything.
Christine was shocked that she had done that. She hadn't intended to. A blush crept onto her cheeks and she became very interested in her feet. She quickly walked back over to the tree, grabbed her book, and made her way past a very shocked Severus and into the Manor. She ran upstairs to her room and carefully put her book back onto her desk. That book was one of her most prized possessions, along with all of her other muggle things. She walked over to her trunk and searched for her money box. She would need to know how much she had if she was going to go shopping tomorrow. She counted out 500 Galleons and 500 Pounds, "Perfect", she had more than enough money to last her until next year. She carefully put the box back into her trunk. She looked back up at the clock and heard her stomach grumble, it was time for dinner.
She made her way down the steps and into the dining room. Severus and Lucius looked deep in conversation so she just slipped into her place and started cutting up her chicken. The house elves must have read her mind; this was her absolute favorite thing in the world. There was pepper chicken, mashed potatoes with a pool of creamed corn in the center, and a salad. Christine was so enthralled by her meal that she didn't notice the Boys had stopped talking and were simply glaring at each other. She looked up from her plate a moment and saw them. Shaking her head she got up from the table and headed towards the library. Every time she walked inside she got goose bumps. Christine's favorite part about Snape Manor was their vast array of every book imaginable. She walked over and grabbed a potion book, took a cozy seat near the fire and began to read. Her eyes began to feel heavy but she was too tired to move so she simply fell asleep on the chair, drifting off into her dreams.
Well, three chapters in one day, i think that deserves a few reviews eh?
