Chapter 16
Riley and Severus sat side by side in potions class a couple of weeks later listening to their Slug Club professor lecture. Classes had been uneventful since the return of Winter Break and the year slid closer to Spring. The outside air was warming up and students buzzed about upcoming exams and future visits to Hogsmeade. The twosome were together whenever the opportunity struck, meeting between classes and taking trips to the library. They also took the time to enjoy the silence of each other in class. Just the presence of the other being there was comforting and pleasant.
Severus heard a gentle ripping sound next to him as he listened to Professor Slughorn discuss the upcoming N.E.W.T.s. He heard another rip and tried to ignore the noise coming from Riley's direction as he took notes. It was his goal to receive an 'outstanding' in Potions and supposedly, it was Riley's goal too. He jotted as Slughorn prattled on about what potion they might be expected to brew. The professor listed the numerous possibilities and the levels of difficulty they ranged from.
Concentrating on Slughorn's information, Severus lifted his quill to pause his note taking. The ripping had silenced and he was unexpectedly distracted a moment later by the furious scratching of a quill next to him. He was surprised to hear her writing so rapidly when Slughorn had currently said nothing of note.
Severus peered out of the corner of his eye to see Riley's head bent over something. He assumed it was her notes for the class and had learned to expect odd behavior from her so he adjusted his eye sight forward to his babbling professor. Suddenly, he felt the pressure of something being pushed towards him and placed under his elbow. Severus looked down under his sweater-covered elbow and saw a small piece of parchment that had been hastily rolled up. He turned his head towards Riley who was innocently looking at him with her bright blue eyes. Her look was almost comical in nature with her eyes that wide and he knew instantly that she wasn't being innocent at all. He sighed at her and indulged her by picking up the little scroll.
For someone who was so intelligent, she didn't always concentrate very well. It was sometimes like being with a very large child who wanted to play all the time. Not that he minded half of the time, but the other half of him grew exhausted trying to keep up with her. Perhaps she played Quidditch just to expel some of that excess energy. She explained to him the other day that they were like the muggle story of the 'Tortoise and the Hare'. She was the Hare that wanted to always speed around and ended up using all of her energy and he was the tortoise that conserved his energy and took his time. He really didn't understand the analogy too much but he could see her being compared to a speedy creature that never slowed down until depleted. He didn't really care for being compared to a reptile though. He found himself to be the least reptilian of anyone he knew.
He unrolled the scroll reading it silently and impassively. Riley's bubbly script made it easy to read: 'Want to take a trip to Hogsmeade with me this weekend? Check yes or no'. The crystal eyes next to him blinked innocently until the snickering started. Riley smothered her laughter by clamping her red lips together as she watched Severus read her note silently with a now confused look on his face. He had no indication as to why this situation would strike her as funny. Why didn't she just ask him after class?
She loved watching the way he reacted to whatever she did. So many times she caught him off guard when no one else could. It delighted her beyond words to watch the confusion seep into his eyes. Hence, why she loved her muggle references, she loved stumping the sharp-minded Slytherin and laughing at her own jokes. She was sure it irritated him to some extent, but his irritation was adorable to her. It was an odd, demented sense of humor, but he cracked her up.
Riley turned to head forward towards her professor to calm herself down. But she watched out of the corner of her eye as Severus tried to understand why her eyes were suddenly filled with mirth. He always tried to figure out her weird jokes even though he knew he'd never get most of them. It was like she knew he couldn't help but ponder every odd thing she did. He picked up his quill and stared at the little boxes that she had provided for him under the yes and no. She giggled quietly to herself while her head was still facing the front of the class. As she peeked out of the corner of her eyes, he caught her glance and he glared at her. He casually looked around the room to see if anyone heard another one of her incessant muffled fragments of laughter. The next time they were in class together he thought he might consider casting a silencing charm on her.
She hushed any noise escaping from her mouth as she watched him, by again pressing her lips together. He returned his gaze back to the parchment and quickly checked the yes box with an additional quick scribble before rolling up the little beige scroll. He placed the tiny parchment in front of her without looking at her and focused his attention back to Slughorn's lecture.
Curious as always, Riley unrolled the scroll in her hand and eagerly read the contents. She noted the yes that he had indicated but grinned from ear to ear at the scrolled message he wrote below: 'if you want to earn an outstanding in potions you should pay attention or you'll end up like Potter and Black'.
Riley looked ahead at James and Sirius who were sitting together at the front of the room. They were pushing a Zonko's dungbomb back and forth to each other like it was a time bomb, ready to explode. Both of them looked excited and nervous at the same time as they pushed it with their quills towards each other. It rolled across the table, dangerously close to edge while no one else paid them any attention. All eyes were directed at the professor as he listed ingredients of note. Riley bit her lip at the image in front of her, trying to hold back the laughter within her.
She peered over at Severus to gage his reaction. Leave it to a Slytherin to have a keen eye out for the disaster. Oh, he was going to love it if those two got in trouble. No one else thought he had such vivid sense of humor, but she knew better. Surely enough, the dungbomb slid off the lab table as James attempted to pass it to Sirius. It had gotten way too close to the edge and their cockiness got the better of them. Sirius' gray eyes widened as he attempted futilely to stop it from falling on the floor. He stretched out his palms while ducking under the table to save it. With a silent thud it fell to the floor and Sirius picked himself up from under the table and sat up board straight. The panic in his eyes was hilarious as the dungbomb penetrated the room with the foulest odor Riley had ever smelt.
Before the smell could further permeate their nostrils, Severus swiftly flicked his wand at himself and Riley encasing their heads with a bubble head charm. He turned his fish-bowl-like covered head and smirked at her, knowing he had proved his point. Riley rolled her black rimmed eyes at him and watched as the chaos filled the room.
Riley walked side by side with Severus into Hogsmeade that weekend. She looked around the small village on that warm morning, noticing that the snow from the tops of the thatched roofs was in the process of melting. There was a chill in the air despite the absence of snow on the ground so Riley had dressed fairly warm in a tight knit navy blue sweater and high rise bell bottom jeans. Severus glanced over at her with his black eyes, seeing that Riley had slipped on some rather large heart-shaped sunglasses with an American flag frame. She pushed them up her nose as she tilted her head back into the sunlight, capturing the rays on her skin. She seemed to be in her element when she was outdoors and the sun seemed to glow from her skin even after her exposure. Severus walked on, keeping his eyes focused on Dominic Maestro's shop. Severus had on his usual attire of a black blazer, white button up shirt and straight legged blue jeans. Riley liked his casual attire, she loved thinking of what she would do with those buttons later. She also often thought about grabbing him by those jacket lapels. To be honest, she had a hard time keeping her hands off of him.
Riley had been looking forward to Dominic Maestro's all week. Per her request, the Maestro had set aside some recently obtained muggle records from London for her to look through. The shop mostly sold instruments and other wizarding musical oddities, but this was the only place that Riley could add to her growing music collection near Hogwarts. They reached the building and heard the faint ding as they opened the shop's wooden door. It was quite small inside and cramped. It was much like following a strange musical maze in which you had to dodge various piles of musical instruments before you reached the Maestro himself. It was warm and welcoming though as a blast of balmy air hit them as they walked through the door frame. Riley slid her sunglasses to the top of her chestnut colored head and turned to Severus, who was shutting the door behind them. Severus stooped down as he past under a hanging magical tuba, careful not to hit his head on the large brass instrument.
"I've never set foot in this place before." Severus said quietly, looking around at the clutter with a raised brow. "But now I know why."
Riley, who was still watching him enter, gave Severus a look to hush him up. The last thing she wanted to do was piss off the sole provider of her musical provisions. She turned back to her maze-like path in front of her and jumped back at the sudden appearance of a bearded, average height wizard standing before her. His face was jolly in appearance and small round, golden-rimmed spectacles sat perched upon his nose. He adjusted his glasses and peered through at Riley with brown sharp eyes.
"Ah! Miss Brannigan! My fellow lover of the rock and roll!" The wizard exclaimed with an accented warm and smooth tone that sounded almost musical in nature.
Severus held back a smirk as Riley visibly jumped at the quick appearance of the man. Her face suddenly transformed into a brilliant smile, recognizing who the sound had come from. She reached out and hugged the man in front of her like he was a lost uncle. The man jovially patted her back before releasing her and peering behind her at Severus. Severus stood silently and slightly surprised at the friendly exchange.
"I'm back!" She announced, ignoring the curious look Maestro gave Severus, as she looked at the man with glittering blue eyes of anticipation. "Did you get in the Warren Zevon album? It has 'Werewolves of London' on it, right?" She asked like a child awaiting a gift on Christmas morning.
"Yes!" Maestro said excitedly, "I hope you don't mind, but I listened to it!"
"And?" Riley asked in anticipation.
"It was fabulous! I also took the liberty of getting you a copy of an album called, Van Halen. Apparently, they are becoming a pretty big deal. Something about how this Eddie Van Halen plays his guitar. It's supposed to be very different from anything we've heard before."
"I've heard of them! They did a write up about them in the LA Times! Eddie Van Halen is a great guitarist…" Riley said distantly and then looked back at Severus sheepishly, momentarily forgetting his presence. "Dominic Maestro, this is Severus Snape, Severus, this is Maestro."
Severus nodded to the older man in front of Riley and Maestro eyed Severus critically.
"You have a very special girl here, Severus." Maestro said, clasping Riley by her small shoulder. "A very smart and knowledgeable one, this one. If I were still in school, I would have scooped this one up in heartbeat!"
Maestro chuckled merrily to himself, shaking Riley along with him. Riley rolled her eyes at the older man and Severus shot the man a dirty look.
"I know special she is…" Severus mumbled to himself under his breath, glaring at the man. Severus unknowingly straightened himself up to his full height to appear more menacing and kept an eye on the man's hand on Riley's shoulder. Maestro ignored Severus and turned to the back of the shop where he wandered to a back tabletop. Riley followed Maestro as he guided her and handed her the records he had spoken about. They spoke again for a couple of minutes about each record and Riley smiled as she spoke some parting words. The man gave one squeeze of a hug to Riley and she turned waving goodbye to the shop owner. Seeing this, Severus approached them and gently laced his fingers between Riley's, pulling her swiftly from the shop.
"Thanks again, Maestro!" Riley called back as they softly shut the door behind them. "Where to next—"
Before she could utter another word, Severus caught her off guard by bending down to her height from his and bringing her face to his. He took her chin with his long fingers and tilted her head up. He laid his lips over hers and tenderly grasped her in the doorframe capturing her with his body. They were sheltered from prying eyes by the large overhang of the building and the shadow of the door frame. Severus' black locks of hair hung by her cheeks and she opened her blue eyes to see his black eyes opening in front of her. They parted their lips slowly and looked at each other thoughtfully, as if they were trying to capture the moment in time.
"You are special." Severus said to her softly in his low baritone, brushing his thumb across her cheekbone. Riley smiled at him with her face aligned closely to his. She kissed his Roman nose gently at the tip and looked back into his eyes.
"So are you." She whispered to him, wrapping him in a warm hug. She draped her hands around his slender waist and rested her head on his chest, listening to his heart beat gently again his skin. Severus caressed her dark brown locks of hair as he kissed the top of her head.
"Let's go get lunch." He said softly, "We can actually sit together at the same table today."
He felt her lips rise into a grin against the white button up shirt he wore. She unwrapped her arms from around his waist with a final kiss on his cheek and stepped down from the door. She brought her sunglasses down from the top of her head and settled them gently on her button nose. She waited for him to follow and they walked down the trodden path, intermixing with the other students wandering around the village. Most of the other students did not notice them, focusing on their own adventures for the day.
"So how do you know the Maestro so well?" Severus asked with a playful tone. "Apparently, he thought he had no competition."
Riley swatted at him as they ventured down the path together, side by side once again.
"I've spent some of my previous Hogsmeade visits discussing muggle and magical music with him." Riley explained.
"Well, clearly he enjoys your knowledge about the subject…" Severus teased in a very familiar dry tone.
"Severus…" Riley said in a good-humored warning. Her blue eyes flashed at him quickly before setting her sights on Three Broomsticks.
"Do you have something for older men that I should know about? First, Professor Verecundus, now, Dominic Maestro…" Severus taunted merrily in a low voice.
"That's it, Snape." Riley growled teasingly, taking her wand of her pocket and mumbling an incantation that silenced his mouth. Severus smirked out of the side of his mouth despite his lack of speech and walked along side her as if nothing bothered him. His amount of confidence irritated her. She knew he'd have to talk at some point. Then it wouldn't be so funny anymore.
"You're okay now, but wait until you have to order lunch…" She said evilly, slipping her wand back into her jean pocket.
They reached the wooden door to Three Broomsticks as Professor Slughorn stepped out. He wore dark green robes over his rounded stomach and tottled out with a fair haired Professor Verecundus behind him. Severus' eyebrows rose up at the sight of the younger professor and Riley gave him a look that was deadly in nature. Slughorn was oblivious to all of this as he greeted his two Slug Club members.
"Ah! Miss Brannigan and Mr. Snape! How lovely!" Slughorn cried in delight. "You know my two protégés, Professor Verecundus?" Slughorn said, facing the younger Professor suddenly, waving his chubby hands towards Riley and Severus.
"I do not know Mr. Snape, but I know Miss B-Brannigan." The younger professor stuttered out as he adjusted his largely framed glasses, his features growing rather pink when he saw Riley's face. Clearly, he had recalled when he had last seen her by the expression planted on his face.
Riley's face grew pink too as the professor looked at her and Severus. Severus noiselessly thanked Riley with his eyes for casting the silencing charm on him to save him from dying of laughter. She couldn't stop his eyes though from twinkling in merriment. Slughorn was oblivious to the awkwardness of their encounter as he turned to Severus and smiled genuinely at the boy.
"Lovely day for a Hogsmeade visit, isn't it?" The head of house asked Severus conversationally. Severus, being charmed into silence, nodded briefly, thankful he was only asked a yes-or-no question. After he answered, he peered over at Riley with a triumphant smirk. Riley crossly looked back at him waiting for her opportunity to strike.
"What are your plans for the rest of today?" Slughorn asked in a friendly tone, clapping Severus on the shoulder. Realization hit the young Slytherin and Severus looked over at Riley in panic, trying to figure out a way to not answer the question. Riley stood smugly with her arms folded over each other as she raised one of her dark eyebrows. Her face was no longer pink as she waved him on to answer the professor's question knowing full well how it was killing him to stand awkwardly not saying anything.
"Go on, Severus. Tell the professor our plans." She said calmly with her eyes glittering in his direction. Severus looked back and forth between Riley and Slughorn waiting for her to lift the charm.
"What's wrong with you, Severus? Cat got your tongue?" Slughorn asked, laughing and slapping Severus on the back. Professor Verecundus stood shyly in the background watching the exchange between Slughorn and Severus, avoiding eye contact with Riley. Severus eyed Riley again and she rolled her blue eyes at him, retrieving her wand stealthily from her pocket and whispering the counter-charm at him. Severus watched Riley and moved his lips as if they needed to be propelled to start.
"Not quite a cat, Professor." He grumbled, his eyes trained on the now smiling girl.
