A/N: Hello my lovely friends! It's been a long time since I last updated this story and this update, unfortunately, isn't that long. I hope that you enjoy it anyway and I'd like to thank you for the support that you've given me during this trip. Enjoy!
OOOOOOOOO
Avonlea looked across the desk that separated her from the Headmaster and saw the look of alarm that filled the older woman's eyes. Her hands shook on her lap, still holding the glass of water that McGonagall had given her earlier. She couldn't believe that she had just admitted to the Headmaster something that she could barely admit to herself, but she understood that she had to come clean to the older, wiser woman because of the conditions that had been set upon her.
"Professor Snape," McGonagall said slowly as if the words were foreign to her. "Is your mate?"
"Yes, ma'am," Avonlea answered, ducking her head for a moment.
"Are you quite sure, Miss Raven? There has been no mistake…Professor Snape is your true mate?"
"I am sure. I'm surer now that I have told you, Professor." Avonlea tapped her nails against the glass. "I've tried to deny it, thinking that there was a mistake, but nothing's changed. I can't deny that Professor Snape is the mate that my blood is calling for."
"I see." McGonagall sat back in her seat and frowned. "I thought that when you found your mate, he would be somewhat closer to you in age."
Avonlea nodded. "I thought so too."
"Does he know, Miss Raven?"
"No, he doesn't know anything about it," Avonlea told the older woman. "He still thinks that I'm slacking off on finding my mate and flirting with guys that aren't the mate that I need."
"I believe we should tell him." McGonagall reached for the wand that lay on the desk in between her and Avonlea. "I could summon him here and –"
"No!" Avonlea exclaimed, dropping the glass onto the floor where it shattered loudly in sharp shards.
Professor McGonagall's eyebrows rose in surprise as she looked at Avonlea. Heat flooded the young witch's face and she quickly looked down.
"I'm sorry," Avonlea apologized, not meeting the Headmaster's gaze. "I shouldn't have yelled at you…or broken your glass, but Professor, you can't tell Professor Snape about him being my mate. You can't. I can't."
"Miss Raven, I am aware that Professor Snape is a very difficult man to deal with and that he can be rather intimidating to young people like you. But that's no reason for you to not tell him that he is the only one that can keep you from becoming a vampire. He must know."
"And he will know, but no one can tell him. Professor, in the few books that I've read, I learned that a Veela can't reveal her knowledge of her mate to the mate. He has to learn of it for himself and build a relationship with her because the only way that a Veela can stop herself from becoming a vampire is to have the complete love and willing desire of the mate." Avonlea sighed and picked at the hem of her sweater. "Our mating has to be his desire as much as it has to be mine because he will be stuck with me for the rest of our natural lives…"
"Are you sure that he doesn't already have a hunch that he could be your mate?" McGonagall asked, folding her hands on her desk. She frowned when Avonlea lifted an eyebrow. "Is it possible that the fact that you have only eased your bloodlust through the veins of Miss Marina, his daughter, has come to his attention?"
"As far as I know, he thinks that the only reason that I'm feeding my bloodlust from Rissa is because she's my closest friend." Avonlea furrowed her brow. "I don't remember reading anything that would suggest that I can only feed from the veins of blood relations of my mate. And he hasn't done any more research than I have…"
"I see. Miss Raven, I hope for your sake that Professor Snape comes into the knowledge of his true place in your life. And soon." The older woman reached across the desk and opened a small tin. "Have a biscuit or two."
Avonlea reached out and plucked up two of the chocolate sweets. "Thank you, Professor."
"If Professor Snape doesn't come to his senses in time for your seventeenth birthday, are you prepared to take the next necessary steps, Miss Raven?"
A cold feeling settled in Avonlea's gut, but she nodded. "Yes ma'am."
McGonagall rose to her feet and moved around the desk until she was standing in front of the young Veela. She placed her hands on the girl's shoulders and sighed.
"You have been such a joy to have in this school," the witch told her. "You came from a harsh background and living conditions and become one of the hardest working students that I have ever known. You are a bright young woman – one of the brightest in this world, I must say, and it would pain me greatly if I had to watch you leave Hogwarts and enter a world of darkness and death…" McGonagall squeezed the girl's shoulders. "I have faith that everything will turn out all right in the end for you."
Avonlea looked up into McGonagall's eyes, seeing pure sincerity and concern in them. "Professor, if I don't mate with him and become a vampire, please tell my friends, parent, and professors that I will miss them. Promise me."
McGonagall nodded and wrapped her arms around the girl. "I promise. And I promise that I will do what I can to make your life better – without telling the idiot that you need him."
Avonlea briefly hugged her Headmaster, unsure of how to react considering that it wasn't every day that Minerva McGonagall would hug a person. She closed her eyes against a wave of unexpected tears and breathed in the woman's warm cinnamon scent. Taking a step back, she offered a small smile at the witch.
"Thank you for the biscuits," Avonlea said, lifting her uneaten one. "And thank you for everything, Professor. I'll always be grateful."
"So will I," McGonagall said, watching her. "Have a lovely evening, Miss Raven."
Avonlea bowed her head and turned, heading down the steps from her office. She heard the portraits saying things to McGonagall, but couldn't register the words. She hurried out of the office and past the statue that blocked the door. The girl didn't stop moving until she found herself a few halls away from the Great Hall.
"Oh God," Avonlea breathed, resting her head back against the wall. "Oh God, what have I done? I admitted it to her. I admitted something that I never wanted to or think of at all. Why did I do that? How could I have done that?"
The Veela Halfling ran a hand over her face and let it rest over her eyes for several moments. She took a few deep breaths, mentally telling her body to calm down. The prickle of her fangs sharpening told her that she was failing and that she needed to work harder or risk someone seeing them.
"Calm down," she hissed between her teeth. "Calm down. You told someone that's not Rissa and that's okay. She's not going to go blabbing to anyone with the knowledge. She's not that kind of person. She wouldn't break a promise like this…Calm down right now!"
The sound of laughter flooded from the direction of the Great Hall and Avonlea lowered her hand slowly. She looked towards the heavens and shivered as she pushed herself away from the wall. It was time to get back to the routine, she knew. First she'd eat with her friends and then she would take Carissa back to their private room to talk about what had happened.
At the entrance to the Great Hall, she paused and looked up towards the teacher's table where several professors were still enjoying heaping plates of food. She scanned the long table and saw that Snape was sitting in his usual spot, huddled over his own plate and ignoring everyone around him like they didn't matter.
And how could I ever matter to him? Avonlea thought, feeling the heavy weight of sadness come crashing down upon her shoulders.
"Calm down," Avonlea whispered to herself, shaking the feeling off and entering the large room. "Everything is going to be all right."
OOOOOOOOO
"You told her?" Carissa asked later that evening while Avonlea lounged on one of the sofas with a blanket pulled over her feet. "You told McGonagall about how you know who your mate is, but why you wouldn't admit it to him or anyone really?"
Avonlea nodded and sighed.
"Did the old woman use a Truth Serum on you? Or Occlumency? Or –"
"Rissa, she didn't do anything sneaky," Avonlea said softly, watching her friend pace in front of the fire. "She asked me a few questions and I answered them. I can't lie to people anymore, Rissa. Not even to you or myself." She took a deep breath. "Your father, Severus Snape, the scariest man that I have ever encountered…He is my mate and without him, I'm going to die."
Carissa threw her hands up in the air. "Hallelujah! She finally admits to the world that she knows who her mate is! We can all stop holding our breaths now! She admits it!"
Avonlea threw a pillow at her friend. "I didn't admit anything to the world. You, McGonagall, and I are the only people who know what he is to me. And I am not going to go out of this room and tell everyone that knowledge." Her eyes widened as she remembered something. "The portraits…"
"What about the portraits?" Carissa asked, plopping down next to Avonlea. "Are you going to have some painted of us?"
"No. The portraits in the Headmaster's office. They know about it too." Avonlea slapped a hand over her face once more and banged her head back against the plush arm of the sofa. "Oh God, if they start telling other portraits and those tell people…I'll be ruined and your father will kill me long before he could ever want me. Oh God, oh God, oh God."
Carissa frowned and patted her friend on the arm. "You don't have to worry about them. The portraits in the Headmaster's office hear a lot of things every day, but they don't go around blabbing about it. I'm pretty sure that your secret is safe in their hands. Or mouths…If not, I'll get McGonagall to let me poke them with a fiery tipped wand. Okay?"
"Okay."
Avonlea watched her friend rise to her feet and move over to one of the small tables that stood in the room. She came back with three bottles of nail polish and sat down next to Avonlea once more. Carissa reached out and took one of Avonlea's hands.
"I'm going to paint your nails," she said with a smile. "And you're going to tell me all about your fantasy for the Yule Ball. Leave nothing out, except for the explicit details about my father and his anatomy."
"Rissa!"
"Okay, okay. Another topic then. Talk to me about the song-house and how we're lucky enough to avoid living there for the rest of our lives." The girl lifted her eyebrows suggestively. "We could trash talk your mother. All right?"
Avonlea settled on the sofa and nodded. "All right then."
OOOOOOOOO
Soft moans escaped her lips as her small body moved under his and his lips moved over the pale column of her neck. Her fingernails dug into his back and her hand tugged at the disheveled black hair at the back of his head. He rolled his hips into hers, driving himself deep into her with each thrust. He marveled at the feeling of her smooth skin burning against his as they moved in the most carnal of dances and marked every inch of her with his lips and his hands, always pulling her closer and memorizing each line. He grunted deep in his throat as he felt her walls tightening around him as she neared the dangerous edge of sanity and knew that he would soon follow suit.
"Severus," she moaned loudly in his ear as her walls shuddered around his member, milking him of his own release. "Severus!"
Snape's eyes snapped open and he found himself staring up at the ceiling above his bed with a throbbing hard-on demanding his attention from under the sheets. His chest heaved as he fought for breath and felt the fire of his dream-partner's touch all over his skin. He narrowed his eyes as he slid his hand under the sheets and wrapped his fingers around his sensitive member, groaning softly when it echoed with the feeling of his dreamed up mate around it. He rested his head back against the pillows and stared up at the ceiling, grunting as his hand moved.
Damn these dreams! Snape thought. Damn the woman that keeps haunting me! Damn the whole female race! Damn everyone! Why can't I have one night where I don't wake up because of her? This mystery woman needs to be revealed and then removed forever. Damn her!
OOOOOOOOO
A/N: Things were revealed more in this chapter after that last cliffhanger and I'm happy with this. I usually don't write scenes of self-love, but this one for Snape had to be done in my opinion. What's your opinion? Please leave a review in the little box and I will get back to you when I can. Thank you for everything! -Scarlet
