Chapter 6: I Can't Help But Notice
Disclaimer: I do not claim any rights to Harry Potter or any of the characters from it. They belong to J.K. Rowling. The only character that belongs to me, is my OC, Tabitha Tate.
AN: I feel bad about how lazy I've been about getting the last two chapters up. I'll try to speed up again. Thanks for putting up with my laziness. :P I haven't had internet connection for the last week or so. I meant to post this chapter a long time ago.
Tabitha grinned and danced from one foot to another excitedly. Their first quidditch game of this school year was about to begin. The Gryffindor team was going to be playing against Ravenclaw. She mounted her broom at the same time as the rest of the team, holding onto her bat tightly with one hand. They all took to the air as soon as Madame Hooch blew her whistle.
Tabitha hooted, overjoyed at feeling the sensation of flying again. She zoomed around the pitch in a quick lap before looking about for the bludgers. She ended up not having to search for long, since one of them started to shoot at her from her left. She quickly turned and hit it as hard as she cood with her bat, sending it through a nearby goal hoop. The game went on for nearly an hour before James caught the snitch, winning the game for the Gryffindors. Tabitha smiled and watched as he took a victory lap around the pitch on his broom. She rolled her eyes in amusement when she saw him blow a kiss to Lily, who completely ignored him. She flew down so that she could land and dismount her broom.
"You guys kicked ass, as always!" Sirius cheered, thumping her on the back in a congratulatory manner with one of his hands.
"Thanks, Padfoot." She answered, stumbling a bit from the force of the thump on her back. She stood on the tips of her toes after regaining her balance, trying to see over the people leaving the Slytherin stands to look for Severus. He had told her that he would come to watch the game, but she knew that he wasn't fond of quidditch. She ran to the stands the moment she saw him, wanting to ask him what he had thought of the game.
"You did come!" She cheered, throwing her arms around the lanky teenager and dropping her bat.
"Yes. I had told you that I was going to, didn't I?" He asked in reply, gently patting the small blonde's back as a subtle way to return her affectionate display.
"Yeah. It just makes me really happy to see you here." She told him, burying her face in his robes. He rolled his dark eyes at her silly giddiness, but did nothing to stop her. In truth, he was quite proud of his friend for how well she had played and was glad that she hadn't been hurt again.
"Did you enjoy the game, Sev?" The blonde asked, her voice slightly muffled from her still having her face partially buried in his robes.
"It was fine. You do realize that people are staring at us though, right? You're being a little friendlier with me than what is publically acceptable for anyone." Severus answered, watching as she took a step back, her face reddening.
"Sorry. I was excited about you watching the game." Tabitha apologized, running her hands through her wind-tussled locks.
"Do you have any plans for the day?" She asked, looking up at the pallid Slytherin shyly.
"None so far." He said, curiously watching her. He was trying to figure out why she seemed to get so nervous and shy around him at times.
"Excellent! Will you go to Hogsmeade with me then?" She asked, biting her bottom lip anxiously.
"Why would I want to go there?" He questioned, poising one of his brows.
"It'd be fun. I need to get some things for my cat and there's a few books that I want to buy. It's always boring to go alone and I don't feel like going with the others." Tabitha sighed, looking quite put-out at the prospect of going without him. He sighed irritatedly.
"I'll go with you. Just try not to dawdle too much." Snape said, not appearing to be looking forward to it at all.
"Yay! Thank you, Sev!" His short friend happily exclaimed, locking him in a tight embrace again.
"Let's go. Before Sirius and James try to drag me up to Gryffindor tower to party with the rest of the house in celebration of winning the game." She said, grabbing his hand and hurrying away from the quidditch pitch. Tabitha didn't care that she was still in her quidditch uniform. It would take too much time to go change into her normal clothes and she really didn't want to get stopped by Sirius or James. She made her way across the grounds as swiftly as she could with Severus.
"Why are you so keen on avoiding celebrating with your housemates?" Snape asked as they got into the line of people with permission forms to go to Hogsmeade.
"Well, it isn't so much that I don't want to celebrate with them as it is that I'd rather go to Hogsmeade with you." Tabitha answered, hoping that she didn't sound too much like a little school girl with a crush or something.
"I imagine that Potter won't be pleased about it at all.." He replied, sounding amused.
"Who cares? I'm sure he'll get over it." She retorted, laughing a little, not bothered about it in the slightest.
". . . And Black? It doesn't take one being a master of divination to know that he'll be steaming by the time we get back." He commented. This caused her to give a small wince.
"Dealing with him won't be pleasant, but I'll survive. He isn't the boss of me and he's going to have to accept that at some point." She said, sighing quietly. Severus didn't understand how she put up with the Marauders the way she did.
Soon they boarded the train and got comfortable, waiting for it to take them to the nerby wizarding village. Tabitha snuggled up in her red quidditch cloak, feeling a little bit cold. Severus gave her a disapproving look to let her know that he thought she should have changed into something warmer. He then started to quietly read a book about legilimency. They rode the train in a companionable silence.
"We're here!" Tabitha exclaimed as the train came to a stop.
"Obviously." Severus answered, standing up. Tabitha stuck her tongue out at him playfully and led him out of the train. Snape rolled his eyes at the female's childish ways, restisting the small grin that was trying to fight its way onto his face. The two walked away from the train and made their way to Flourish and Blotts.
Tabitha took in a deep breath as they entered the shop, taking in the scents of books, fresh parchment, and ink. She smiled happily, enjoying the familiar smells. Severus watched her curiously, not knowing what she was so happy about. He rolled his eyes, seeing her open various books for seemingly no reason other than to flip through the pages without seeing what was even on them.
"Don't judge me. I love the way new books smell, Sev." Tabitha playfully huffed, furrowing her brows to mock irritation.
"I never said I was judging you for your silly behavior, did I?" He asked, smirking at her immaturity. She simply giggled and flounced off to aisles that held a large assortment of books about quidditch.
"You dragged me here to get books about that silly game?" Severus asked, exhasperated with her.
"Yeah. Well . . . to get some more food and treats for Borris too." Tabitha answered, picking out a few different books.
"I had assumed that you wanted me to help you pick out a new potions book or something of that nature." He told her, not seeing why she had seen it fit to take up his time with something as unconsquencial to him as buying quidditch books.
"Nope. I simply wanted to spend time with you, believe it or not." She said, carrying her books to the counter to pay for them. He followed, surprised to find that he really didn't mind that she had brought him for no reason other than to be around him.
"Want to go to The Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer?" Tabitha asked as they walked out of the book store.
"I'm not fond of butterbeer." Snape told her. This was true, but he had said it mostly because he didn't want to tell her that he barely had a sickle to his name.
"Oh. They have other things to drink too." His small, blonde friend said in reply.
"I'm not thirsty, Tate." He said coldy, his defense of unfriendliness coming out. Tabith sighed softly and frowned, her feelings hurt. Severus kept up an emotionless mask, but was inwardly berating himself for treating her badly. He hesitantly took her hand into his own, not letting any emotion show even though he was quite nervous that she would reject that small bit of contact he'd just made.
"Aww, Sev. It's okay. I forgive you." Tabitha said, dropping her bag of books so that she could use her free arm to wrap around the arm that was connected to the hand that was holding her own. Severus looked down at her, highly relieved that she had understood why he had grabbed her hand and that she hadn't turned him away and had forgiven him instead. It surprised him how forgiving she was towards him.
"You should probably pick your books up." He quietly said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.
"Yeah." She agreed, releasing his arm and picking her bag of books up. They walked to Eeylop's Owl Emporium together so that Tabitha could could make her purchases for her cat. Tabitha picked up a small bag of cat food and couple of bags of cat treats before walking to the front of the shop to pay for them. This concluded the shopping they did that day.
"We still have quite a while before we have to go. What should we do now?" The green-eyed witch asked.
"I don't care as long as it doesn't require going into anymore of the establishments here." The lank-haired Slytherin responded.
"Oh! I know! Let's go look at the Shrieking Shack." Tabitha said, already dragging her tall friend ni the direction of the decrepit shack. He didn't find the idea very exciting, but went along with it. It was better than letting her take him into more shops. They sat down next to each other on the grassy area near the fence that allowed people to safely look at the Shrieking Shack without falling.
"You know, I don't believe that that place is really haunted at all." Severus told her, looking at the shack with disinterest.
"Why not?" Tabitha asked, looking at him curiously.
"It shows absolutely no signs of ghosts inhabiting it at all. There are signs that fools go up there quite a bit in order to make themselves seem brave or to cause a racket in order to reinforce the idea of it being haunted." He explained, turning his head to look back at her.
"Even if it isn't haunted, it's still interesting to look at." She replied, looking back at the shack to hide the discomfort that the conversation was starting to make her feel. As a Marauder, she knew what really went on there each month and as close as she was to Severus, she still couldn't let him know at all.
"If you're into run-down houses." Snape said, closing his eyes. Tabitha smiled a little and watched him relax.
"I think they're interesting. Who knows what sort of people lived in them or the sorts of things that took place there?" She answered, quietly scooting a bit closer to him. It was starting to become slightly chilly. Severus opened one eye to see what she was up to, having heard her move closer to him.
"Are you cold?" He asked, used to being in the slight chill from living in the house located down in the ever-cool dungeons.
"Just a little." Tabitha told him quietly, wrapping her arms around herself. He nodded, letting her get a bit closer to him in order to keep her from getting any cooler. After a little while, everybody was called back to the train to go back to Hogwarts.
The two boarded the train again and found a compartment to sit in. Tabitha set her shopping bags down and plopped down on one of the long seats of the compartment. She watched as Severus sat down across from her and stretched out his long legs comfortably, crossing his ankles. She smiled, enjoying seeing him looking so relaxed. She wished that she could see him like this more often, instead of seeing him always so stiff and uncomfortable looking.
He watched her watching him, wondering why she had such a goofy, happy expression on. He had noticed her observing him similarly to the way she was doing now quite a few times and had never understood it. Lily had never watched him like that. He considered trying to use legilimency to find out, but knew that she would likely go into a rage upon realizing what he had done. He continued to think about possible ways to find out as the train took them back to the school. Tabitha was also submerged in her thoughts as the train made its way back to the castle. Her thoughts were on what could have possibly taken her friend's concentration so completely. She had immediately noticed the change in his demeanor from relaxation to intense thought, since he had straightened his posture out some and he had started to stare a hole into the wall.
They were both startled out of their thoughts when the the train bell rang, announcing that they were arriving. Tabitha picked up her shopping bags and left the train with Serverus. They walked into school and stopped in the Entrance Hall. Tabitha smiled at him and climbed up a couple of stairs.
"I'll see you at dinner, Sev. I had a great time today in Hogsmeade with you." She told him, glad that she been able to hang out with him so much today. He nodded, also glad about having spent so much time with her. He watched as she walked up the stairs to put away her purchases.
After she was no longer in sight, he descended the stairs to the dungeon. He wanted to read in the common room for a while, thinking it seemed like an agreeable emough way to pass the hour until dinner time. As he entered the Slytherin common room a few minutes later, he saw several of the boys talking about something in excited whispers. He had a good idea of what their conversation was about, or rather who it w as about. Even he was curious about the Dark Lord. He wouldn't let Lily or Tabitha find out about it though. They probably would only judge him negatively about it now.