A/N: So, towards the end of this chapter there is a slightly awkward POV switch that I guess neither myself or CommanderValeria noticed at first. But things are mostly in Lucy's POV up until then and then they switch to Dinah's. But there isn't enough of a scene change for a horizontal bar, so... I'm just letting you readers know to expect it. :) Sorry for our little mistake there!
Lucy stared at Sirius, flabbergasted by what had just happened, "What was that?"
He shrugged, "Taking the bull by the horns, I'm guessing."
"You think so? I doubt it. A bit of making out maybe. Anyway we should get to the library."
"Are you sure?"
"What do you mean am I sure? We said we'd meet them in the library so yeah I think we should go there."
They gathered the dishes and set them to washing in the sink before exiting the same way Dinah and Severus had. Under the arch Sirius stopped her, "Well, someone aught to use this properly."
He pushed her back against the frame. His lips were nearly on hers when she said, "But we already…"she didn't get to finish her sentence until she heard someone clearing their throat, "did."
"Now, they know how it aught to look," he whispered in her ear.
"What was that?" Dinah asked, looking amused as she came back down the stairs followed by Severus, both of them carrying a few wrapped packages.
"Nothing," Lucy said, shoving Sirius away from her. "He's just being bothersome."
Dinah waved it aside, and Severus looked stone-faced as usual. "Well, are you ready to do this? We grabbed all the gifts."
"All right. It's just down here," Lucy said, grabbing Sirius's hand and leading the group down the hall and to the closed door of the library.
For the second time in two days they entered the snowing room. Lucy pulled Sirius over to a couch close to the tree and the couple sat on it close together. Sirius with his arm around Lucy's shoulders and Lucy with her head on his shoulder and her feet tucked up underneath her.
Severus took a seat on the couch across from them closest to the tree and across from Sirius. That probably hadn't been intentional. Dinah slid in next to him and placed the presents in her hands down onto the rug in between the two couches before leaning back in her seat.
The door had unintentionally been left open and Lucy tried to jump up when her cat leapt up onto Severus's lap, rubbed her face against his chest and laid down.
"Eh-" Severus started, wincing slightly as Dinah covered her mouth and tried to stifle a giggle. "Um," he muttered, looking exceedingly uncomfortable with all eyes on him. His hand hovered over the cat's head and then petted it awkwardly twice. Then he shot a glance at Dinah, as if asking what to do.
She laughed, "Don't look at me like that. Obviously the cat likes you. That's a good thing."
"I suppose," but the frown remained plastered on his face as he stared down at Dora.
"Sorry," Lucy said, "She likes cuddle with everyone but me. Sirius seems to be her favorite which I find weird because he spends half his time as a dog. Even when he's Snuffles she likes to cuddle with him."
Dinah grinned, "Some cats like dogs. Godric loves my parents' poodle whenever we go home."
Lucy smiled affectionately at her cat; "I just think she likes to be bothersome." Lucy stood and picked Dora up, "You, Elladora Ketteridge, might be better served by sitting over here," she handed her to Sirius. She bent over by the tree and searched for the two packages with Dinah's and Severus's names on them. Once found she handed one to each of them. Then she grabbed the one she'd bought for Sirius to open now and handed it to him.
"Thank you," Dinah smiled, and Severus gave a slight nod, looking mildly surprised as he turned the gift over in his hands. She wasn't sure why he'd be surprised. 'Presents' usually implied that they would all be getting some. Or maybe he was just surprised or curious about the shape. Dinah lifted up a large brown package and a small one. "Here you two go," she handed the small one to Sirius and the larger one to Lucy. "I'm hoping we get more opportunities to explore the Muggle world together, or that you'll all spend some time at my place again for a longer period at some point. I already gave you those clothes I bought the day before, Sirius, but-" she waved her hand and laughed, "Oh, just open them."
"Thanks," Lucy said, and Sirius echoed her. The pair ripped into their packages, Lucy finding a pair of blue jeans and a green jumper similar to the one she'd borrowed from Dinah, with a matching necklace and bracelet and a small handbag. Sirius opened a box containing a brow leather wallet. "Oh, wow. These are lovely."
"This is what Muggles carry their money in, correct? That should come in handy the next time we spend time at your house."
"Yes it is. I'm so glad you like them," Dinah looked a little embarrassed, "It was hard to decide what to get, but after our trip and I had already gotten the clothes for Sirius it seemed like a good idea. "Oh," she grinned, "and Severus would like you to know that I signed his name for him on the gift tags."
"I didn't say-" Severus began, looking almost flustered.
"It's fine, I think they figured it out anyway," she smiled at him, "Besides, I think at least Lucy knows deep down somewhere you secretly signed it on the inside."
"Why are you-" Severus started again, but Dinah laughed and he just shrugged. "Well, whatever. You're still impossible to figure out."
Lucy laughed. It was nice to see them comfortable enough to tease each other. "Well, go on, open yours."
"Sure," Dinah nodded, and she and Severus began ripping open their packages. Dinah unwrapped slowly to let Severus finish first. The book he pulled out was old and worn.
"This is... an original copy of Elladora Ketteridge's The Many and Varied Uses of Gillyweed?" Severus asked, looking surprised, but pleasantly so if she dared think it.
Lucy nodded, "Yes, I found it in a bunch of books my dad sent down. He was trying to get rid of them."
Severus opened the book up to the inside cover and his eyes widened slightly, "Signed." He looked up at her, "I'd have to check, but this might be worth something."
"It could be. We inherited that one and the other three from…well, I assume Elladora herself. They came down through the family in the usual way," Lucy shrugged, somewhat embarrassed.
"I'm simply saying are you sure you want to give this away? Although, since you seem to have three other copies..."
"Oh, I'm sure. We do have three other copies and I'm sure you'll enjoy it far more than I ever will."
"Well, then if you're sure," he placed the book aside, "This should prove useful to have around. Thank you." He smirked, "I'll make sure not to show it to Professor Slughorn."
Lucy laughed, "You're welcome. And please do try to keep it away from Slughorn. If he finds out it came from me he'll probably start bugging me for a copy. His methods are deadly."
Dinah pulled out the copies of Bewitching the King and Plato's Republic that Lucy had wrapped up for her and smiled. "Wow," she held up Bewitching the King, "This is the one you told me about and I wanted to borrow from you, right? The one about Anne Boleyn?"
Lucy nodded, "Yes, there were rumors she was a witch when she lived. I'm not sure what Muggles today think about her. The other one is one I used for learning about literary theory."
"Thanks!" Dinah said, setting the books aside, "It'll be interesting to see what Muggles thought of the idea of witchcraft in those early times. Especially since that was before The International Statute of Secrecy was set up. And the other book might help me teach Severus more about how Muggle thought has influenced our society in positive ways."
Severus just rolled his eyes at her remark.
"Just remember that it is still fiction, though I can help point out what is and isn't real." She turned to Sirius, who still had Dora in his lap, "Now open yours!"
Sirius had been resting the large package on the arm of the couch so he didn't squish Lucy's cat. When he opened the present he laughed, "A new wizards' chess set. Does this one bite too?"
Lucy kissed him, "No, the one you already had is the only one I've ever encountered that bit the players."
Sirius set the chess set at the side of the couch and stood, dislodging Dora from her perch. She immediately went back to sitting on Severus's lap.
Severus sighed, "This is getting redundant."
Dinah shrugged, "Just leave her be. You don't have to pet her or entertain her. Just let her sit there." She reached over and scratched Dora behind the ears.
Sirius just chuckled, enjoying Severus's discomfort. He picked up one of the presents that Lucy and Dinah had poked at yesterday, "Here you go," he said, handing it to Lucy.
The present was large and soft. She tore into it to find an oversized blanket with a large black dog, a small red fox, and a grey cat all curled up together on it. "Aw, I love it!" she said wrapping it all around her so everything but her head was covered.
"Now you can take me with you to Hogwarts and wrap me around you when you're feeling lonely or upset."
Lucy's eyes started to fill with tears. He could be so sweet sometimes, "Thank you," she said huskily.
"You're welcome," he replied, kissing her forehead.
"That's so sweet," Dinah smiled. "The cat looks like Dora. But why the fox?"
"Oh," Lucy paled a bit. She'd forgotten she hadn't told her friend about this part of her, "Um, this really shouldn't be spread about but the fox is me. I'm an animagus, but like Sirius I'm not registered."
"Wow!" Dinah repeated, blinking in surprise. Even Severus looked rather shocked. His tensing caused Dora's tail to start twitching with agitation. "Really? That's... wow," she said again. Apparently that was her new favorite word of the last half hour.
"Why not register?" Severus asked tersely, shooting Sirius a look of mild disapproval.
"Be nice," Dinah said to him in undertone, and then looked back at Lucy, "But yes. What made you decide to do that? And not register? I'm not judging, I'm just curious."
"It wasn't really my decision. I tried to register. The first few times I was unable to transform properly. Maybe I went to register too soon or something I'm not sure. After awhile they started refusing to see me for that. So, I couldn't register if they wouldn't let me. Anymore it's because I don't trust the Ministry like I used to. I know they're rebuilding and all but they've got a long way to go to regain people's trust."
Dinah nodded, "Well, I suppose that's reasonable. Don't worry, neither of us will tell anyone. Will we, Severus?"
Severus shrugged, "It's no business of mine."
"Thank you. It's not so much that I care if others know but I could get into a great deal of trouble if I'm found out. But enough with that. Surely you two have presents for each other."
Dinah smiled and nodded at Lucy's suggestion, pulling the envelope with the Flourish and Blotts gift certificate from her robes. But she was intercepted by Severus who shoved an envelope of his own into her lap. "Oh," she blushed and took it, "Thank you."
"Don't thank me until you've opened it," he retorted, but almost smiled.
She nodded and opened the envelope, and what she saw inside left her flabbergasted, "Severus! You actually-"
"Yes," he cut in. "Yesterday while you two were decorating. I actually put on those stupid Muggle clothes and went to that stupid Muggle bookstore and got you this gift... card, it is apparently. Which makes little sense as it looks nothing like any 'cards' that I've ever seen."
Dinah stared down at the gift card for a little longer, looked between it and the envelope that she had set beside her, and burst into giggles.
Severus sighed and threw up his hands, and then turned to Lucy, "You were right. Apparently it's impossible to predict how women will react to any kind of a gift."
Lucy smiled, "Well, I should know, shouldn't I? Being a woman and all myself. Our reactions are as varied as our reasons behind them."
"No, no," Dinah insisted through her laughter, putting a hand on Severus's shoulder and noticing that he didn't flinch at her touch this time. "It's not the gift. I love it, thank you so much. It's just... well, here," she held her own envelope out to him.
He was still staring at her like she was completely mental but he took the envelope from her instead. When he opened it and saw the gift certificate he smiled slightly, "I see. Well, at least now your reaction makes some sense."
"Exactly," she smiled and sat back, "Well?"
He turned to look at her; "This should be useful. Thank you."
She nodded, not caring much that his response had been essentially the same one he had given to Lucy for her book. He didn't really have a large collection of gratitude-expressing words in his repertoire.
"Well," Dinah sat back in the couch, "I guess that's it, then. Should we-"
"No," Severus mumbled, shoving another, smaller box into her hands.
She gasped and stared at it. It was a simple brown box, but with a green ribbon wrapped around it. Green like so many of the colors in this house. "What is...?"
"Something else," he muttered, only half meeting her gaze. "After what happened yesterday I bought you something else to apologize. Lucy did tell me to be careful about gifts like this at certain stages in a relationship, but- well, just open it," he shoved the box further into her grasp.
"Sure," she stared at him for a few moments, her heartbeat quickening, and then turned to smile at the little box in her fingers. Very carefully, she pulled the knot out of the ribbon, sliding it off and setting it aside. Inside the box was a silver necklace with a pendant in the shape of a tiny silver snake coiled at the bottom.
She couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face as she fingered the little pendant, "Severus! It's-"
"You seem to like snakes," he cut in, "Don't think I haven't noticed. I can't imagine why, since you're not a Slytherin and as a general rule seem ill-disposed toward Slytherins the same as the rest of the people from other houses are. But, anyway, I thought you would like it."
"Severus..." she whispered, tears forming in her eyes, and lifted it out so it shimmered in the light of the Christmas tree. So he had noticed the way she admired the Slytherin snake and snake decorations when she passed by them. She had thought she was being discreet, but he had noticed. He had cared enough to notice. Her realization from last night that she was in love with him only felt truer. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," he smiled, sliding an arm around her shoulders for a moment, "I don't expect this to make up for what I did, but..."
She shook her head, "No. That's forgotten. We'll move on."
He nodded.
For now, all was well.