Interlude: Severus Snape II

Severus flew for nearly two hours before he found the whelps. They were huddled over a large corpse, screeching at each other as they tore it to pieces. It was only once he alighted on a massive antler did he realize it was an elk of some sort, though larger by far than any he had ever seen.

Perhaps all the animals here was bigger than what he was used too, he thought as he remembered the massive wolves, the whale corpse, and the sea serpent. Though maybe not everything…the horses were definitely smaller.

"This is an impressive kill," he commented idly as Solar and Roan fought over a leg bone larger than they were. It was practically bare of meat, but the two were so caught up in their rivalry, they didn't notice that the other dragons were taking the opportunity to pick the corpse clean.

Romulus pulled his head from the chest of the dead beast, his brown scales covered in red blood. He blinked at the smaller dragon, the nictitating membrane sliding across the eyes slowly. Severus akinned it to an eye roll from a teenager.

"Loki kill," Romulus replied after a moment as if it should have been obvious before his dark green eyes turned to said dragon. Loki was further away from the other dragons, gnawing on a hind leg he had severed from the corpse. Ophelia lay next to him, black and silver belly swollen from overeating. "Ophelia eat first," Romulus added after Severus gave a curious hum, before shoving his head back into the corpse and pulling out a lung.

He was only a little surprised that Loki had deigned to share his meal, though his kill was much to big for a dragon his size to eat in one meal. The bronze dragon wasn't exactly keen on sharing, but he did whenever he over hunted. If he suddenly started to hunt more often and was force to share…well, Loki would never admit that it was because he was deeply offended whenever one of his siblings accepted handouts from humans. Severus, of course, knew better, but he kept his silence.

It was astounding, learning about dragon behavior from dragons themselves, as opposed to a textbook. And the things Severus was learning was absolutely astounding. Dragons didn't live in packs, but family members did settle into something that resembled it.

Ophelia was at the bottom of the pecking order because of her injury and Gemini because of his size. Solar, Roan, and Hera were middling in the pack structure, and although Guinevere was outspoken and more prone to throw her weight around, she still yielded to Romulus. The brown and teal was perhaps the most levelheaded of the bunch. He was calm and patient, not prone to anger or outbursts, and didn't let Loki bully him into submission.

Loki was at the top of the small pack of dragons, only beneath Severus and Harielle, but soon he thought even that would change. Though not the largest of the group, he was still the most dangerous. His temper was fitting for his mother's breed, and he was just as likely to use fire as he was teeth and his horned tail to bully his siblings into submission.

Yet still, the foul tempered beast had ensured that their grounded sister got her fair share of every meal…and he kept the others fed when they didn't wish to hunt.

As if Loki could feel the eyes on him, his red gaze was suddenly fixed on Severus and the once wizard tilted his head curiously at the growing beast. The bronze dragon glared at him, eyeing his perch on the antler and the other dragons that were still gorging themselves on the corpse, before he went back to his meal.

Severus knew that Loki would become a problem when he got too large to control, but for now he was comfortable with leaving him be.

"Where little sister?" Guinevere chirruped as she twirled in the snow, her own orange eyes alighting on the trees as if expecting Harielle to stride out now that her absence had been noted.

"Riding," Severus replied disgustedly. The two girls Harielle had taken to spending time with had gifted her a horse…and he used that term very lightly. It looked like a pony. The beast was short, round, and shaggy. Like all the horses that the Thenns kept, it was made for traversing ice, snow, and the uneven ground of mountains.

Barely taller than Harielle herself, it was the smallest of the horses in the stable. It was also slow and lazy, more inclined to meander while grazing than being ridden. Putting a saddle and a person on it only meant more grazing areas to the dumb beast, but Harielle was absolutely smitten with the gelding.

She even called him Chudley – after the Chudley Cannons out of all things. While its undercoat, mane, and tail were red, the longer fur was a flea-bitten white and didn't have an athletic bone in its body. Severus highly doubted that the horse ran for anything but more food.

Guinevere snorted, her muzzle crinkling as she repeated the word curiously. When she looked back at Severus, he realized she was asking for clarification.

"Chudley," he spit the name, feeling the irritation bubbling in his chest. "The horse, she is riding the horse."

"Chudley?" She asked softly. "Chudley livestock?"

Severus understood her confusion. Harielle had successfully explained the concept of livestock and human kept animals to the dragons, but horses just confused them. They didn't understand the beast's purpose, and Roan had squawked and keened in confused anxiety the first time he had seen a human put a saddle on a horse and then mount it. Harielle had been laughing hysterically at the dragons as they wailed and squalled, trailing after the agitated horse and trying to tug at the saddle.

The girl had been useless in explaining the concept of mounts and beasts of burden, laughing too much to get a word in between the giggles, so Severus had tried his best to educate them. He had been annoyed and frustrated with their lack of understanding, and even more frustrated with himself and Harielle. The girl's understanding of dragon speech was basic at best, and yet she had been able to successfully explain more than one difficult concept to the whelps.

"No," Severus replied after a moment, as he tried to align his thinking to that of his once student. How would she have explained it to them. "Horse is different, not livestock," he spoke slowly, twitching his tail in agitation as he tried to dumb his words down. Severus pretended he was speaking to children…really, really young and stupid children.

"Horse is like dog; they serve more purpose than food." There, that sounded right. Simple and easy explanation.

Guinevere blinked at him, tilting her head one way and then the other as she thought over his words. "Dog livestock!" She chirruped brightly.

He closed his eyes, letting a slow breath out of his nostrils as his talons rhythmically clenched the antler, digging small gouges in the bone. "Yes," Severus replied after a long moment, sighing the word. "Horses and dogs are livestock."

"Oh," she replied, blinking at him once more before turned back to the dead elk and continued eating, shouldering the smaller but fatter Roan aside as he tried to shuffle into her space. It appeared as if the conversation was completely forgotten.

"Little sister riding?" Gemini asked excitedly, trying to bully his way up onto the antler next to Severus.

His weight displaced the corpse, and Severus squawked in surprise when he was forced to take flight as the head detached from the spine and rolled into the snow. Gemini shrieked as he rolled with it, puffing out his chest and glaring as the head finally settled and he was able to detangle himself from the antlers.

Severus landed on an exposed shoulder bone, turning his icy gaze to the bright red dragon. The whelp lowered his body into a crouch over the snow and tried to hide behind the severed head. After a few seconds – not nearly long enough in Severus' opinion – the dragon perked back up and waddled closer to him, repeating his previous question as if nothing had happened and Severus wasn't still upset with him. "Little sister riding?"

"Yes," Severus hissed the words, glaring down at the rambunctious little shit as he saw the red was about to try and climb up next to him again.

Properly chastised, Gemini sat back into the snow, deciding to forgo the climb and leaving the white dragon his space. "Where?" He asked, chirping the word, and then deciding to chirp it some more simply because he could.

"Upper valley, east of the village," Severus replied after a long while, letting his glare ease. It wasn't like it was working any ways. Direction was another concept Harielle had been able to successfully explain to the dragons, using the sun and the stars to help the understand the idea of compass directions.

Without a second thought, the little red launched himself into the sky with a happy chirrup and took off. "The other direction! Other direction, you idiot!" Severus hollered after him and humphed in annoyance as Gemini twisted lithely in the air and changed his trajectory. Well, it looked like compass direction still needed a little more work, but at least the whelp understood east and west went towards or away from the sun.

Severus was going to let Harielle explain that one to them again. He had already done quite enough today.

Solar took flight a moment later, Romulus not far behind, following in Gemini's path. Solar didn't like leaving one of them alone, and Romulus disliked leaving Solar so it was no surprise that he followed. What did surprise Severus, was Gemini's absolute love of riding.

The little beast was a dragon, for Merlin's sake. He could fly in the air, gallop awkwardly on the ground, and even knew how to swim…but he absolutely loved to perch on the back of whatever horse was running the fastest. It made absolutely no sense.

The only ones more upset by this was the horses themselves.

It took Harielle quite a long while to understand what it was Gemini was trying to do, but after that, she was more than willing to put up with his antics. The other horses not so much. When Gemini tried to land on them, they would buck. If he tried to climb up, they would kick and run off. Somehow, Harielle got Chudley to tolerate the red dragon, but that was probably because the horse was used to Severus' presence, was dumber than a box of rocks, and had no self-preservation instincts to think of.

He was also beginning to realize what Harielle liked about the horse. Those descriptors could easily be applied to her red headed Weasley friend just as well.

The fat beast Chudley was just used to the dragon's antics and bore it with good grace; though he could barely be coaxed to go fast at all, much to Gemini's consternation. After a long moment, Severus finally grunted in annoyance and flew after them. He did hate to leave Harielle alone for too long.

If only a few moments he had overtaken Solar and Romulus. Though smaller than any of the other dragons, Severus was by far the fastest. Only Gemini could match him in speed, and only just. As the red had quite a head start, Severus wasn't surprised at all when he didn't overtake the once twin. Gemini was quite fast when he had a goal in mind, and at the moment, that goal was to find Harielle.

Severus found her in an open field in the upper valley just as he had suspected, talking to someone. Chudley was grazing next to her, nosing aside the loose snow to get to the grass beneath. Harielle had looped the bridle around the horn of the saddle, and though she didn't have a hold of the horse and was facing away from the beast, the small horse didn't move more than a few steps away.

The beast was loyal, Severus would give him that.

The other horse, a larger brown mare, was nearby. Her reins were tied around a branch of a fallen tree, and her ears flicked in Chudley's direction every now and then. She seemed agitated…no doubt due to the red dragon.

Perched on Chudley's back, behind the saddle, lounged Gemini. His toe claws were dug tightly into the blanket beneath the saddle, his legs thrown to either side, probably imitating Harielle when she rode, but the horse was much too fat for the dragon to properly straddle. His tail was twitching in excitement, head perked up and eyes set forward as if he believed if he waited patiently enough the horse would indulge him and start galloping across the field.

Severus snorted, flapping to slow his descent to land on the pommel of the saddle, shaking his head in amusement. The red dragon would be waiting for quite a while if that was the case. He doubted even a pack of starving wolves could get the lazy and fat horse to move faster than a canter.

Harielle's sudden laughter drew him from his musing and Severus turned from the red dragon to face her and her companion.

He recognized the young man she was talking to, but only just. The older girl, Alfhild, had introduced him during the Hare Moon Celebration, but for the life of him, Severus couldn't recall his name. Harielle had danced with him several times throughout the night, and he did recollect him being present when Harielle had chugged her her fourth or fifth drink, tossed the horn on the ground, and clamber onto the bewildered and blushing Aslaug to plant a lingering, if not purely innocent kiss on the poor girl's lips.

Severus had found himself more amused about the whole scene than he thought appropriate. The girls kissed like they had never done so before; eyes closed, lips closed and puckered, pressed together and unmoving, hands fluttering around awkwardly as if they didn't know what to do with them. Everyone had been cheering them on – that boy included – before both girls broke apart, blushing hotly and shifting in embarrassment. A moment later and they both started to laugh brightly.

Harielle pulled herself from Aslaug's lap, falling onto the log next to her. She was laughing again when another drink was pressed into her hand, and that young man yanked her up and back to the fire where everyone was still dancing.

Severus narrowed his green and purple eyes at the male, memorizing his face and flaring his nostrils to take in his scent, recoiling suddenly as the smell of arousal registered. Relearning his senses, and learning his new ones took many months and a lot of guess work to figure out. He saw in more color than he ever had before, realizing when it was near dark out, he could see on the ultraviolet scale.

It took a lot to get used to, but he soon learned that he actually had a third set of eyelids, transparent and beneath the nictitating membrane that would slide aside when it became dark and turn his vision into greys with amazing colors he had no names for blooming into his vision. It gave him a headache when he used it too much during the day time, but he had been able to track the flights patterns of the whelps based on the pheromones they left in the air, see heated footprints that people and animals left behind, and track someone's mood based on the colors their body was throwing off.

At this moment, he was using it to look at the male that was now leaning in close to Harielle, his expression sly and coy as he whispered something that made her throw her head back and start laughing. His body was thrumming in pinks and reds, low in his core and radiating out.

Severus recognized this very same thing he had seen on Harielle on more than one occasion. She would sometimes wake up in that state and would be irritated or coquettish depending on the mood. It had taken Severus several incidents of this for him to realize what he was sensing from her.

Harielle had been aroused but unaware of her state.

Severus could have broken his neck with how quickly he snapped it back when he finally nailed down the scent and sight. It made sense; she was a young woman going through puberty still…but that didn't mean that he wanted to know about it. And he knew that if he brought it up, she would have been absolutely mortified, probably even more so than that incident in the ice cave when she had started her period for the first time since their displacement.

Right at this moment, that young man was throwing off all the same pheromones. And worse, Harielle was responding. She had one hand on the boy's crossed forearms, though it wasn't to hold him back or push away, much to Severus' displeasure. Instead, she seemed to be leaning in closer to him as he reached up and tucked a loose piece of hair that had escaped one of her many braids behind her ear.

She blushed and fluttered her eyes, her speech halting as she nibbled on her lower lip. The young man's eyes tracked the movement, and Severus watched him with a glare as he shuffled closer and started to lean down…as if he was…he was!

Severus shrieked in outrage as he realized that this young man – this boy that was unshaved, unscarred, and unproven – was planning on kissing Harielle. The noise startled Gemini who finally turned to look, though Severus noted that the gelding barely twitched at the commotion. The mare reared back and neighed loudly but couldn't get more than a few steps away with her reins tied.

Harielle turned to look at him and the young man with her gave him a curious expression, though Severus noted that Harielle did not release her grip on his arm. "Sev?" She asked, her voice light and airy, breathless in a way he had never heard before. "Something wrong?" She spoke to him in the Old Tongue, forgoing her mother language to include the boy in their conversation.

Severus shrieked again, suddenly blindingly furious. He bared his teeth as he lowered his head and swayed it side to side, eyeing up the boy as he coiled himself to lunge. Beside him, Gemini stood, warbling uncertainly as his golden eyes flicked between the three of them, confused at the sudden hostility.

"Sev?" Harielle tried again, her tone more cautious as she finally released her grip on the boy and took a few steps closer. Roars, high pitched and loud, echoed across the valley as Romulus and Solar dived into the clearing, flaring their wings out to land at the last moment. Though their shoulders were only as high as the girl's hip, the ground seemed to shake from their heavy landing.

Solar flared his large grey wings, roaring once more and standing on his hind legs to make himself appear taller, while Romulus lowered himself into a position much like Severus' own. Body close to the ground, his hind legs were coiled tight beneath him, ready at a moment's notice to launch himself at an enemy. Gemini seemed to take it as a cue to do the same and gave out his own weak version of a roar, the fins on his neck fluttering, but he didn't seem to be doing it at anyone in particular, just in the general direction his siblings were displaying their anger.

"Sev? What the hell?!" Harielle flushed, her voice dripping in annoyance and anger as she started to march towards him.

"Wait!" The boy called out in alarm, grabbing Harielle's arm to stop her. He yanked her away, making Harielle whirl around and almost lose her balance as he tried to pull her away from the angry dragons.

This action only made Severus more infuriated and he roared in retaliation, launching himself from the saddle. He latched himself onto the boy's arm, digging his claws in the way he had never done to Harielle, feeling the blood well up around the wounds.

The boy screamed as Severus sunk his fangs deep into the inner wrist of the hand that held Harielle captive. The young man released his grip on Harielle to throw Severus off, and Severus let him, choosing instead to land on Harielle's shoulder, gripping her robe and shrieking again.

"Oh, Merlin," Harielle gasped, not even seeming to notice Severus' presence on her shoulder, a small weight she was so very used to, as she rushed closer to the boy. "Canute! Oh gods, are you okay?"

"He bit me!" The boy, Canute, screamed. He had a hand wrapped tightly on his bleeding wrist and when he pulled it away, Severus could see a large chunk of skin missing.

"Severus! What the fuck!" Harielle shouted, grabbing Canute's arm to see the damage. It really was bleeding heavily.

He hadn't meant to cause that much damage, and while he did feel bad about it as Canute really was just a boy, he only felt a burning fury as Harielle continued to touch him. Instead of replying, he shrieked again. Three more voices joined his and he nearly lost his balance as Harielle turned quickly to snap a stay command at the other dragons.

"I mean it!" She shouted in English, waving a bloody finger at them. "Stay!"

"It won't stop bleeding!" Canute cried out, and Severus could see tears in his eyes as he tried to stem the blood flow.

"Oh gods!" Harielle turned back to him grabbing up his arm once more and then shoving Severus from her shoulder when he started to growl menacingly. "Severus! Enough! I swear to Merlin, if you try anything…"

She trailed off, glaring harshly down at him as continued to stare in hatred at the boy. She didn't finish her sentence, the threat hanging meaningless between them. They both knew it was empty. Instead, she returned her attention back to the bleeding boy, ignoring the white dragon as he climbed up her leg, over her hip, and up her side to perch himself back on her shoulder.

"Hold still," Harielle spoke softly to the older boy, her hands gentle as she tried to see the wound better. "I'm going to try and heal it."

Flicking her hand, the black wand snapped into her palm and the boy flinched away from her. Canute had not seen her use magic before, many of the Thenns hadn't. Harielle was always so careful to never perform magic when others were watching, and if they were, it was something very discreet. Nothing that could bring attention to her, nothing that the Magnar could prove.

She muttered episky under her breath, pointing the wand at the wound, and then cursing when nothing happened. Harielle tried the spell again, and then a third time before grunting in frustration. "Why isn't it working?" She asked, still speaking in the Old Tongue. "Severus? Help me."

Severus found himself only snarling in reply, his gaze still fixed on the boy who quelled under it. In all his years as a teacher, Severus didn't think he had every hated a child as much as he hated the one before him. It had been a blessing to be a small dragon, one that wouldn't grow very much. It allowed him to be with Harielle no matter where she went. But in this instance, he wished to be larger…much larger.

He wanted to loom over the boy, he wanted to bare his teeth and threaten to swallow him whole. He wanted the boy to burn.

Behind him, two of the dragons were still shrieking and roaring their threats. Gemini finally deciding to choose a target to direct his attention to, joined his brothers and snarled menacingly at the boy. The mare had worked itself into a lather, terror showing the whites of her eyes as she finally got enough leverage to snap the reins and she took off into the forest. The dragons hardly seemed to notice. All the dragons were staring at the boy, angry and ready to attack, though none knew quite exactly why.

"Enough!" Harielle shouted again, finally releasing Canute's arm to yank Severus from his perch, holding him in her hands like one would a toddler, hands beneath his wings with his feet and tail dangling. She held him at arm's length, glaring at him as he continued to spit and hiss at the boy. "Severus! Stop it! What the fuck is wrong with you!"

Turning her body to block his vision of the boy, Severus was instead forced to look at her. She looked angry, angrier than he had ever seen her. Her face red, lips tight, and eyes harsh. Even still her hands – bloodstained and trembling – were gentle as she pulled him closer.

"Severus, please. Just tell me what is wrong? Why did you bite Canute?" Her voice was shaking, cradling him close and pressing him to her chest. Her hands stroked him like one would an upset cat. "Sev, please."

She sounded like she was about to start crying, and Severus felt his senses return to him like he had been dropped into a bucket of ice water. He stopped his struggling, going limp in her arms as he tried to make sense of what had just happened…of what he had done. He could still taste the boy's blood in his mouth.

"Please, Sev. Please!" Harielle begged, her head lowered, lips touching the tips of his spiked horns as she whispered. "It won't stop bleeding and I don't know what to do."

Severus swallowed his pride, forced his anger deep down, and buried his guilt until he was finally settled enough for rational thought. Later…he would think upon what had happened later. Right now, Harielle needed him.

"The wound is too deep for episky," he replied, bringing his dual thumbs up to grab at her robe, lifting his head to bump it against her chin. "You need to try vulnera sanentur. It's a much stronger healing spell. You need to say it three times, in a chant. Once to stop the blood flow, once to clean the wound, and once again to close it."

Harielle sniffled, tucking her cold and wet nose into his hide as she nodded her head, gripping him tightly before she finally pulled away. Wiping a hand across her eyes, she banished her tears away and Severus felt the guilt creep deeper.

"Okay," she mumbled, turning back to the boy who was now kneeling. He had torn his tunic and was trying to use it to stem the blood flow. Beneath him, the snow was stained a bright red, reminding Severus of the elk corpse he had seen the whelps eating earlier. It really was a lot of blood…he must have severed the veins.

Harielle pushed him up until he retook his perch on her shoulder, and then kneeled in the bloody stained snow. Steam rose around them, the warm blood melting the cold snow as it spread further.

"What's the wand movement?" She asked hesitantly in English, using her left hand to pull the wounded arm close and move the bloody fabric away. The wound was very deep. Even though his mouth was small, Severus' teeth were very sharp, and had dug deep into the inside of the wrist…so deep he could see bone quite clearly.

"There really isn't one, just trace the wounds and chant the spell."

Harielle nodded her head, wiping the back of her hand across her cheeks again to get rid of the tears. Instead she just smeared blood onto it. Raising the black wand that had once been his, she started to say the words and then paused, glancing at him uncertainly. "Vulnera sanentur," he repeated the words slowly, enunciating them carefully and listening to her echo them back before he nodded his head.

Swallowing thickly, Harielle resumed her position and started to trace the wounds with her wand, chanting the words in an almost musical lilt as the flesh started to knit back together. Once completed, she sighed in relief and released Canute who was staring at his healed and scarred wrist in awe.

"The scars will remain, I am afraid. Only essence of dittany can get rid of them," he commented idly, sliding his eyes away as the guilt tried to surface. They had essence of dittany; he knew. It had been on his body during the tournament. Harielle had pulled the vial of his corpse herself and at this very moment it lay secure inside one of the inner pockets of her robe. But she hadn't known what it was, and he didn't want her to, because she would use it…would waste it on this useless boy.

"Severus," she sighed, her voice finally losing the shakiness. "Thank you."

He huffed, shaking his head and pulling himself upright before sliding off her shoulder and gliding back to perch on the saddle of the gelding. The horse had remained during the conflict, even after blood was spilt and dragon roars had rendered the air. In fact, Chudley had hardly moved at all, and had continued his grazing after everything had settled down.

Perhaps there was more to this horse than appearances first let on. Severus was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, especially as he realized that the boy would probably have to spend hours searching for his mare.

"Where do you think she went?" Harielle asked as she assisted Canute in standing. The boy looked pale and more than a little ill at ease.

"Probably up into the mountains," Canute replied, tugging at his torn tunic. Harielle brought her wand back up and the boy blinked in surprise as the bloodstained and torn fabric darted up from the ground and reattached itself, knitting back together with the rest of his clothes. Another wave and the bloodstains were gone.

Aside from his pale complexion and startled appearance, Canute looked just as he had before the incident. "Thank you," he murmured shyly, his eyes on the snowy ground still stained with his blood, the only evidence that anything had happened aside from the scars that he now bore.

"Don't thank me," Harielle argued, looking agitated. "Canute, I am so sorry. I don't know what got into him," her eyes slid over to him, and Severus knew that they would be having a talk about this later…whatever the hell this was.

Severus still didn't understand what had prompted him to attack a boy no older than many of his students. The other dragons had finally settled once they realized that the threat was over. Gemini returned to straddling the hips of the fat horse, hoping again for a ride, while Romulus and Solar were nudging at each other.

They did that often, bumping and nudging, especially after a hunt or a fight with one of their siblings. It was as if they were checking for injuries, though it was a more than a little unnecessary in this incidence as they hadn't actually done anything more than look threatening.

Severus snorted at their antics but left them to it.

"Darby is probably miles away by now," Chanute groaned as he wandered over to the fallen tree his horse had been tied to. "It's going to take me hours to find her."

"I'll help you," Harielle replied, walking up next to him to place an encouraging hand on his shoulder.

Canute gave her a wide-eyed look before Severus' bared teeth caught his attention. Severus hadn't even realized he was growling again until his eyes met the startled brown ones of the boy. "Ah no," he replied cautiously, his eyes still fixed on the dragons. "I can find her; you've done more than enough."

"Don't be ridiculous, Canute," Harielle huffed, smiling at him shyly. "You said it yourself, it could take hours."

Canute's own lips started to turn up in a small smile again before Severus moving caught his attention. He had lifted himself into a position he could launch from once more, glare fierce and growling rumble near inaudible. The other three dragons also turned their attention back to the boy.

"No, no," his smile turned tight and the skin around his eyes became pinched. "I'm sure you need to get them back," he gestured to the dragons as he shifted and pulled away from the younger girl. "I could do with a walk anyway."

Harielle frowned at him but let him go. "Are you sure?" She asked hesitantly, watching as he turned his back and started towards the forest. "Alright then, I will see you later."

"Yes, later," the boy mumbled before he started a quick jog. In seconds, he was out of sight within the trees.

Harielle continued to gaze of into the trees for several more minutes before she turned and made her way over to the unbothered horse. Gripping the pommel, she pulled herself up and situated herself into the saddle before looking down at Severus.

He looked back up at her, blinking innocently as she coaxed the rotund horse into a walk. "Severus," she started cautiously, her lips tilting upwards at Gemini's thrilled chirruping from behind her. "What the fuck was that?"

Severus sigh was her only reply.