Chapter 12

After the feast my day toned down a bit, aside from the occasional bombardment of questions from one person or another, it was pretty calm. True, I continued to be much like my usual self, bounding around, as I said before, like the freak I am. Well a freak on lots of sugar at least. Then I joined on the snowball fight with Harry and the Weasley's. Not something I usually do, mind you, I actually really don't like snow. When I was younger I helped build a number of snow forts, and now can't resist the occasional snowball. But for the most part I prefer to stay indoors during the snowy season with a nice cup of coffee. After what the people around me called teatime I settled down to read a good book in the Griffindor common room. That is until Fred tossed me Percy's prefect badge. So I had to drop my book and run. Either that or be caught by Percy, which wouldn't have been any fun. After a bit I tossed the pin to George and returned to my book, a gift from Hermione. Couldn't you guess? Then half an hour later I returned to my room to finish my present for Dumbledore. After sending the owl with the package I returned to the common room, glomped my people good night, and went to bed. Alone. Sad life I lead, isn't it? Oh well, life isn't all it's cracked up to be. Frankly, neither is death, quite the paradox methinks. The next morning seemed somewhat more productive. Thanks to a little visit to the kitchens for a little chat with Tinkles and the other House Elves, the Griffindor table now sported a few pots of coffee. So my morning started out right. I received a thank you note from Dumbledore (can you guess what I gave him? Here's a hint: if he hadn't gotten it from me, he wouldn't have gotten one at all, and it was something he wanted) with a belated present stuck inside. From Severus I got a furious "Why-the-hell-would-you-do-something-like-that?-You'll-ruin-my career-And-just-what-the-hell-did-you-send-me?-and-for-what-reason?" kind of letter. Really, you'd think he'd enjoy the presents I'd gotten him, that and a little kiss. Who know what goes through that mans mind. After that everything went well. I continued to jump around like a maniac. Having fun as usual, which, when you think about it, is a rather unusual thing unto itself (AN: Stop me if I'm getting philosophical)

A week or two later vacation ended, which brought Hermione back gushing thanks for the book I gave her. It appears she read the whole thing between Christmas and the day she arrived (she claimed she only just finished it on the train). Going into breakfast the next morning I noticed Severus sitting at the staff table. Squealing "Hello Professor" in a singsong voice, I blew him a kiss and gave him my (much) earlier mentioned trademark finger waggle (circa 1999). I answered his glare with a very girly giggle and a hurried stage whisper to Hermione "Professor Snape is looking HOT today"

I then went on to mutter about black silk and midnight encounters involving ice cream, whipped cream and cherries. Ok, so I was being a naughty girl, so sue me, I deserved my fun. The next day, which was Saturday, I had decided several days earlier to have a Summer in January party (opposite to a Christmas in July party) so I went to Dumbledore, who said yes, and set up in the Great Hall. Palm trees replaced the tall pines of Christmas, flowers replaced icicles, and tiki torches replaced the ornate wall sconces. Sand, beach towels and the "ocean" stood in place of the tables and one wall. Also several loungers dotted the landscape joined by small tables and picnic blankets. A seaside mural spread across the three remaining, still visible, walls. The table reserved for teachers now resembled the buffet table from a cheesy tiki themed hotel dining room. A large stereo system graced one corner, with a number of speakers dotted about the room. Soon it was finished, an hour and a half before dinner. I opened wide the doors and looked behind me. Several teachers had aided me and a couple had dressed appropriately right from the start (like me). This included Dumbledore, in Bermuda shorts and a heavily flowered Hawaiian shirt, Professor Flitwick who wore khaki's, And Madam Hooch who surprisingly wore a swimsuit and sarong. I myself wore a tasteful swimsuit dotted with tiny skull and crossbones. Over that I wore a purple sarong with tribal markings wrapped round my waist. Slowly students started to trickle in. First from Griffindor, then Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and finally a few Syltherins. Snakes do need sunlight to keep warm. The party was in full swing, and then dinnertime came. Then the Slytherin bat of the dungeons arrived, in his teaching robes, of course. Everyone else had by this time succumbed to the sun and was wearing some sort of beach attire. Be it muumuu or sandals. He, however, stalked to the buffet that was the teachers table, sat, then glowered until the end of dinner. Having commandeered myself a lounger and small table, I waved from where I sat and called out "Enjoying yourself Professor? How about the view?"

He raised an eyebrow (something I'm jealous of), smirked, looked me up and down, then asked Professor Dumbledore "How could you allow this? All these students in this state of undress"

"that's simple Severus. This is a summer in January party. One I myself and other members of the staff have chosen to join in on. This is how people dress at the beach in summer."

Snape grumped and turned to his plate. Then I had a reason to snicker. We had decided to have a luau, so he looked down to find a large roasted pig sitting on the table in front of him, and a large haunch on his plate. The look of surprise on his face was extremely amusing. Then surprise turned into annoyance, so he waved his wand and half the haunch disappeared and was replaced by things that weren't meat. So yes, I snickered. I had to, it was funny. About half an hour after dinner I realized that since our "ocean" wasn't real, we needed somewhere to swim. So I went to the muggle studies teacher and she and I, in turn, went to Dumbledore who thought it was a great idea. So it ended with a pool almost as big as the great hall, which had a pool deck all the way around it. This included steps down to the foyer, as the pool was raised, and a slide in one corner. The stereo was moved to a different location, but the speakers stayed in place. All in all, the party moved to the pool with the exception of a few people who moved to the pool deck or around the teachers table. The party ended when one student turned another into Flipper. Pity really, I was having fun. So were a number of others. Oh well, c'est la vie. Or perhaps in my case, c'est la mort. Several days later people were still raving about the party. The person who ended up a dolphin no longer had flippers, but did sport a cheery grin. A few days after that was the quidditch match where Snape played ref. Funny how these things work. Though someone should have told Severus that spitting isn't polite. Soon after that exam preparations began. Oh joy, the hell begins. Can't you tell I hate exams? The amount of homework we had was unreal. Some nights I was clear up till midnight finishing it. But that's just because I get distracted by a book or something and end up reading or something for 20 minutes at a time. One day in the middle of April, while I was quickly striding down the hall in a black velvet dress and black pumps, with black silk gloves gracing my hands and arms up to the elbow; I nearly ran into Severus. He was coming out of his classroom and I, being the kind of person who avoids sunlight, was walking around the dungeons. I was taller than usual with the shoes I was wearing, as I had recently taken to wearing black sneakers, and my dress was quite low cut making my somewhat ample cleavage very close to his eye level.

"Hi Professor" I said "I missed you on St. Patrick's Day, and Mardi Gras. How's it hanging? How ya been? What 'cha been up to?" All the while you could tell he was trying to be stern and forbidding, but every so often you could see his eyes dart down. 'Yes Sir, I do have a nice rack' I thought, very amused. 'Just don't get yourself fired.' "Umm Sir, eyes on my face please, I know the dress is nice, but staring at it so much gets annoying."

Inwardly I was giggling like the schoolgirl I was. I really should have been getting ready for my exams, but I really wasn't in the mood to do that. What I really wanted to do was have a little fun, and maybe act like the frisky kitten I was. "So Sir, what do you really think of my dress? Is it a bit over the top? I wanted to try for a slightly casual dressy look, but may have failed."

Man, the guy looked at me like I was dense. "It's rather inappropriate for school, isn't it?" he replied, eyebrow raised, eyes still darting downward every so often. "I know sir, but the downward draft keeps me cool. Though I do seem do get goosebumps in rather awkward places. Especially down here in the dungeons. That and I feel like I'm always being watched, even when there's no portraits or anything. It feels like the walls themselves are watching me. Oh well, I'm sure it's nothing."

I spontaneously gave a little twirl and said "Hey sir, what are you up to? If you're not busy I was going for a walk, care to join me?" He looked thoughtful for a moment, which was amazing. I thought he could only look angry. "Well, I was going to do my rounds with one of the prefects, but they seemed to have come down with an illness. You can accompany me if you'd like." I thought a moment, that did turn the tables around a little bit. I was trying to find out If he liked me at all. From him asking me to go with him implied some form of like even if he was only being polite. But this way he was sort of asking if I liked him. Decisions, decisions. What to do, what to say. "Sure sir. Why not? Maybe I'll learn something." Tee hee, mind games are so much fun.