He came to the astronomy tower hoping to wave a white flag and end the feud. Instead, he walked into the equivalent of a war zone, complete with projectiles and hostile environment.
'Bastard!'
Injury is almost added to the insult but Severus' reflexes are good enough that he ducks just as the ceramic jar flies past his head and crashes into the wall behind him. He's upright just in time to bat away a flying copy of Galileo's autobiography.
'I didn't know he'd written one,' he murmurs, mostly to himself.
Auriga hears him and pauses, mid-throw. The plaster replica of planet Earth that he recognizes as a Golden Trio remnant – mostly likely the work of Ronald Weasley if the distorted shape is of any consequence - lowers slightly.
'It's actually very interesting.'
The sudden calm in the storm that is Auriga Sinistra throws him off a bit. 'Pardon?'
She points to where the book landed. 'The autobiography. It's actually very interesting. Did you know that he proposed to his assistant, a woman named Hecate, after only six months of working together?'
Severus has to fight the urge to roll his eyes. Leave it to Auriga to be drawn to a romantic entanglement in the middle of a great astronomer's autobiography.
'Auriga, I'm not interested in the book.'
He ventures a step towards her and doesn't miss her involuntary flinch. It makes him flinch as well. Her hand moves towards the misshapen globe. He holds his hands up in what he hopes comes across as a gesture of surrender. She relaxes only slightly.
'I've come to apologize, properly, for being a prat that night at the hotel.' He pulls himself to his full height and dons a somewhat softened expression. 'I acted like a hormonal teenager and said things I shouldn't have. I would never hurt you intentionally, Auriga. Lord knows, I'd do practically anything for you.'
It's out there, and while he didn't mean to say all of that – especially the stuff he usually reserves for his most internal of monologues – he's glad he's finally gotten it out.
He expects…well, honestly, he doesn't know what to expect. If there's anything Auriga has taught him it's that red-haired women are thoroughly unpredictable, though he suspects that might just be Auriga's natural state. So when she comes around the desk and crosses the room and wraps her wool-covered arms around his waist, he's complete thrown off guard.
In future recollections of this moment, he will not admit to having squeaked in a most unmanly way, but Auriga will remind him that he did, in fact, elicit a high pitched noise the moment her arms closed around him.
'Apology accepted,' she says, her voice muffled by the fact she's buried her face into the chest of his teaching robes.
It takes him almost a full minute before he returns her embrace, his arms wrapping around her shoulders and holding her to him. Her hair smells like a mixture of wood smoke and lavender and he realizes that this is the first moment he's been this close to her since they were children. He soaks up her presence like a sponge and clings to the memory of it, just in case he doesn't get another chance to breathe her in.
A/N: A big thank you to all of you who read and a huge thank you to those of you who review. It means a lot to me. :)