Lucy woke up and rolled over hoping to go back to sleep. It was too early and she was still tired. After a couple minutes it was clear she wasn't going to fall back to sleep. Rather than wake Sirius and risk waking Dinah in the process she grabbed a bathrobe to cover her short nightgown…or at least it was probably too short for others' sensibilities.
She descended the stairs extra quietly and without a light so she was startled when she ran into Severus exiting Dinah's room. "Oh!" Lucy whispered, "Professor Snape. I'm sorry, I didn't see you there." Sometimes, like right now, it was hard to remember he was no longer her professor and couldn't send her to bed with a threat of points being taken away.
Severus frowned, looking more startled and uncomfortable than anything. She was surprised he hadn't jumped at seeing her, but then he wasn't the type to let being startled show visibly. "Oh…Good morning," he said in an awkward tone.
"You're back early. Dinah said you'd be gone until tomorrow…well today," she wasn't terribly thrilled to see him but she was trying to be respectful of Dinah.
"Yes, well..." he actually looked embarrassed. Almost. "I decided at some point last night to come back early. Although it appeared that something had desecrated my bedroom, so I had to share Dinah's."
She almost didn't respond and even took two steps toward the stairs before turning back, "Yes, Fred and George seem to have been experimenting with something the last time they visited. They must have missed one of the experiments and last evening it finally detonated. Sorry."
He raised an eyebrow, probably at her flippant tone, and shrugged. "It seems none of my items were harmed. And I," he frowned, and it looked like a severe strain on him to force his next words out, "apologize for leaving without warning like... that..."
Lucy sighed. He was trying. She just had to keep reminding herself that he wasn't a social person and he was trying. "Thank you, but it's not me you need to apologize to." She pulled her bathrobe tighter; "Look, I'm cold, but the fireplace in the kitchen should still have hot coals and it won't take much to get it going. If you want to join me you'd be welcome."
He hesitated for only a moment and then nodded without a word, following her down the stairs. When they entered the kitchen and she was working on re-stoking the fire, he spoke again, "A second gift."
She was still tired so Lucy wasn't surprised when her brain refused to process that statement with any sort of logic, "Huh?"
"A second gift," he repeated, looking almost embarrassed again, "I er... bought her one to apologize."
"Oh," she said, standing but staying close to the fire, "that's good. Better than Sirius has done, anyway. I mean he did apologize for not knowing when my birthday was but flowers or something would have been nice, too."
"Hm," Snape grunted response, and then sat down at the table before continuing, "Was she..." he sighed, "I don't know why I'm asking you this. Was she... very upset?"
"You're asking because you care and it depends on your definition of very upset. She was upset enough to want to cry but not enough to actually do it. Upset enough to tell me about it and ask me what she should do."
"I see," Severus looked uncomfortable, and then glanced down at the table, apparently deeply interested in the patterns of the wood grain.
Lucy sighed again, sitting down next to him. "Don't. Wait. Let me start over. I can't say don't worry about it but honestly, we're girls, we do things like that. You probably don't want to hear this but once over the summer Sirius made some stupid comment to me and I apparated out of here. In retrospect that probably wasn't the wisest move because he didn't know where I went, if I was okay, or if I was coming back. I went to Tonks and I cried and I yelled and I questioned what I was doing with him. Now, obviously we made up but what I guess I'm saying is; it's not unusual for a girl to question her relationships. We think we can handle anything you boys throw at us and then something happens and it's too much or too hard and we start to think maybe we shouldn't have gotten into this. Generally we go to our friends and talk about it and come to the decision we would have made on our own anyway. I think most of us would rather stay with the guy and work on our problems than be without him."
Severus gave her an odd look, "Yes, well I didn't expect such a detailed explanation. But I suppose that makes some sense. In this situation, however, I'm surprised she hasn't left me. If I were her I would have left me by now."
Lucy shrugged, "She thinks you're worth it. That came out kind of wrong. It's not that I don't think you're worth it. It's just that you and I would never have lasted…not that I've ever really thought about us like that. I haven't. Great, now I sound like an idiot."
Severus finally appeared to lighten up and seemed amused again, so maybe her babbling had been for the best. Still, she wasn't sure she wanted to hear whatever wry comment he had cooked up for her. "You certainly have a talent at thinking things through, don't you?" he said. Well, that wasn't so bad. "Either way, I suppose we should eat breakfast. Can I..." again it was like he had to force the words, "Help you with anything?"
She laughed, "I suppose that's why I ended up in Ravenclaw. I do tend to get there through some rather awkward and embarrassing means though." She stood and headed for the food, "Would you like an omelet? Or more accurately scrambled eggs with omelet fillings mixed in? I like omelets I just can't make them. You can cut up the stuff to add in but if you don't want to that's fine. I won't be offended."
He shrugged, "I can help. Gives me something to do until Dinah comes down." He didn't seem too concerned about what Dinah might say when she saw him, but Lucy couldn't imagine why. He had seemed concerned that she had been upset when he was gone. Maybe he had already talked to her in their bedroom.
Lucy smiled, thinking that Dinah should be seeing this. Not that long ago he wouldn't have even offered to help and he definitely wouldn't have even hinted at emotional issues. He had changed, perhaps more than Dinah realized.
Dinah opened her eyes to a lighted, empty room. The sheets next to her on the bed had been meticulously made up and shaped so that it looked like no one had slept there. But Dinah knew that Severus coming back hadn't been a dream. She knew even without the one small piece of evidence. Her wand, which she had extinguished before falling asleep, rested neatly in the middle of Severus's pillow. She knew she hadn't put it back on the nightstand, and so Severus must have found it and put it there.
It meant he knew she had woken up and saw him there. But whether she had still been cuddled up to him when he woke would remain a mystery since she wasn't about to ask him that question.
She got out of bed and took a quick shower, then threw her robes on and left the room. She came into the kitchen to find Severus and Lucy eating what appeared to be omelets for breakfast. Severus was facing away from her, and so Lucy, sitting across from him, was the first to look up and notice Dinah.
"Good morning. Did you sleep well? Would you like an omelet? Well, technically they're scrambled eggs but I still call them omelets," Lucy seemed a bit nervous for some reason. Maybe she'd spent too much time alone with Severus or something.
"'Morning," Dinah said, and then found herself running an absent-minded hand through her hair as Severus turned to look at her. She smiled a bit, "Um, yeah. An omelet...thing... would be good." She took a breath and walked forward, sitting down next to Severus and meeting his gaze as Lucy went up to put more eggs on a plate for her, "Good morning."
"Good morning," he was facing her but his eyes were shifted off to the side. He looked as awkward as she felt, "Did you sleep well?"
"Very well," she felt herself smiling, "Thank you."
His eyes met hers for a split second before he turned away and nodded. Lucy plopped some eggs in front of Dinah, and Severus turned to address his own food once again. Perhaps it was better that no one mentioned what had happened yesterday. It didn't really feel like she needed to right now. They ate in relative silence until Sirius came into the room.
When he came in Lucy looked up and gestured at the stove, "Eggs are over there."
Sirius served himself before coming over to the table and pulling something out of his pocket, "I forgot to show this to you yesterday. It's a new picture of Teddy."
"Awww," Lucy cooed over the picture, handing it to Dinah, "Isn't he cute?"
Dinah took the picture and looked at it. It was probably a good thing that Sirius was ignoring Severus's presence. Besides, the two of them couldn't know that he had been in bed with her that night. For all they knew it was 'tomorrow' and he had just decided to come back very early.
She smiled down at what she held in her hand. The baby in the picture was smiling, his arms waving gleefully as his eyes danced up at the camera which had taken his photo. It was like he was smiling at her. "He's so sweet." She tilted her head to the side and continued to regard the picture, "It must be so nice to have a family."
Lucy smiled faintly, "Tonks and Remus seem to like it and Bill and Fleur will find out in a few months."
Dinah nodded and handed the picture back to Sirius, then glanced at Severus. He had been watching her with a curious expression, but turned back to his food when he saw her looking. "So..." Dinah said, "What's the plan for presents and all that now? I think Severus and I will probably leave later this evening. Not that I don't enjoy being here. I do, but I think we've had enough adventure for one holiday season. I hope we might be able to do the same next year, though. If circumstances permit," she glanced at Severus again but he was still focused on his food.
"Well, I could go get dressed and we can meet in the library for presents if you want. And I'd love to do this again next year. Heck, you can visit during the summer if you want. I mean I don't know what your plans are or anything but don't feel like you have to stay away," Lucy rose and took her plate to the sink, waving her wand to start it washing.
Severus stood, "I think I'll go upstairs and get some things for the exchange."
"Oh, that's right!" Dinah stood, forgetting about her half-eaten plate. "I'll have to go and gather up my things for you two as well." She hurried towards the hallway, and somehow she and Severus managed to get stuck in the archway leading towards the stairs, having both hit it at the same time.
Lucy snorted, probably thinking that the situation was funny, "Maybe we should put a traffic signal there."
"Uh, yeah," Dinah agreed with a nervous grin, turning around in the small space so that they were no longer squished. Severus made a noise that was either surprised or frustrated and Dinah flushed, turning to look at him. "Sorry!" she muttered. "I was in such a hurry."
"Hmm," he stared down at her, and then his mouth curved into one of those half-smiles, half-smirks he gave her when she did something that particularly amused him. He nodded his head in the direction of the table, "That's the first time I've ever seen you so excited about something you forgot to finish your food."
She felt her face grow redder and smiled shyly. "Yeah, well... even I can ignore food sometimes."
"Mm," he agreed, and they continued to stand there looking at each other. Neither of them moved. And then for some reason Dinah felt her gaze drift upwards, and her head along with it, until she saw what dangled above and between their heads. Lucy and Sirius's Slytherin house mistletoe, complete with the tiny silver snake in the middle. Dinah's cheeks reddened again as she thought that it seemed to be meant for her, with that snake. She looked back at Severus.
He had also been staring up at the mistletoe and now looked down again and met her gaze. He just stared for a long time, made a noncommittal noise, and then stared some more. She wasn't sure what to think. But then he seemed to shrug, and leaned down, kissing her very briefly on the lips.
Dinah smiled after he pulled away, feeling almost breathless with pleasant surprise. She had been so sure they would never use that mistletoe. At least not this year.
She was well aware that Lucy and Sirius were staring at them, but she couldn't take her eyes off of Severus. Why hadn't he bolted yet? After doing that in front of other people, that was what she had expected him to do. But he just continued to stare at her, looking thoughtful, and she found herself desperately curious to know what was going on inside that head of his.
Finally he shrugged again, more visibly this time, and his head came toward her. Even more surprised, she managed to lean forward and meet him this time, and he kissed her again. His right hand came to rest on her hip, pulling her forward a tiny bit, and the kiss lingered. It still wasn't a long kiss, but his lips parted for just a moment, adding intimacy, before he pulled away. He was smiling. Just a little bit, but it was enough for her right now. She smiled back.
He turned and walked out of the archway without another word, heading for the stairs leading up. She shot one shocked glance and a shrug at Lucy and Sirius, and then hurried after him.