Hi everyone! Hope you are all well! Here is the third chapter, I do hope you enjoy! I would love it if you dropped a review! I love to hear what my readers think! I had trouble deciding in which direction to take Ambrosia, but I think I've got it right. A most merry Christmas to you all!
Chapter 3: A Swoop in the Park
After Ambrosia's tragic family situation being revealed, she was treated with the utmost compassion and respect. Everyone truly made her feel at home-like family. Of course she didn't expect anything less from the Potters or Sirius.
She was given her own room just next door from Sirius'. It was great because she would often sneak into Sirius' room to chill- the pair would talk, read together or the play wizards' chess when she was worried or couldn't sleep. James would often join in on the fun as well. Her room was quite large for a guest bedroom and the Potter's allowed her to decorate it and add her personal bling to it.
Her room consisted of a queen sized bed, a bed side table, a combined desk and bookcase, a wardrobe and a large window covered by soft lilac drapes.
Her bed covers were orange and red, covered by phoenix and fire motifs with yellow sheets underneath. She had acquired it when the Mrs Potter had taken them all shopping to get supplies for them and the house.
In her wardrobe were three outfits that she had picked out. Only three until she was able to pay them off and buy more once she started working in Diagon Ally with Sirius and Mrs Potter. She had chosen a simple yellow knee-length floral dress with a black cardigan, indigo jeans with a black, purple-green swirl t-shirt and an emerald v neck blouse with a knee-length white plaited skirt. Mrs Potter `had lent her one of her long burgundy cloaks that she slipped over her clothes on a cool day.
James had allowed her to steal three books from their library to slip onto her bookcase. Two muggle novels, and a non-fictional text about magical creatures. James had also given her a spare piece of parchment, a quill and some ink that sat neatly on her desk in case she wanted to write a letter or write some notes.
The Potters' had been incredibly kind to her, and Ambrosia had never known anyone apart from her aunt, uncle and cousin that made her feel as welcome and at home as they did. If she had any queries or needed any help at all they made sure that she was comfortable enough to ask. The same applied for Sirius.
James was pleasant and also very helpful. He seemed very different to the arrogant, bullying person that she had expected as detailed in the books. His air was one of relaxation and contentment. She guessed why shouldn't he be? With the lifestyle and family he had! She could tell one thing for sure though. The Potters absolutely and irrevocably adored their only son and gave him everything! He too truly loved his parents a great deal! Sirius was also like a second son! No wonder James and Sirius were so close!
About a week after she had settled in with the family, Mrs Potter announced that she would take Sirius and Ambrosia to Diagon Alley to work in her Potions supplies and lolly shop. Ambrosia was taught how to handle money and serve customers at the front, while Sirius and James did the ordering, packaging and stocking. The three were left entrusted with the business while the Potters went to visit some friends in Rome for a couple of weeks.
Ambrosia was standing at the counter her burgundy cloak adorned and the hood pulled over her head. Her hair was in a long braid, cascading down one side and contrasting with the redness of her cloak. She was currently scanning the Potions ingredients list. This was her first day of work unsupervised, and all in all her first job. She wanted to do well by the Potters and not stuff it up.
"250 grams of Moonstone 11 sickles, 250 grams of mint 3 sickles, 250 grams of phoenix feathers 20 galleons, set of 10 dragon teeth 55 galleons…" she uttered to herself. Suddenly, the door bell rung indicating a customer had walked in, snapping Ambrosia out of her reverie.
She put on a bright smile. "Hi! Welcome!" she said brightly, before she noticed who had walked into her store and her smile vanished, her face now holding an expression of awe.
Standing a few inches from the counter, raven hair curtaining a pale face and lively charcoal eyes glinting out from beneath them was Severus Snape. He was wearing black robes and was staring at her with a speculative expression.
Ambrosia sucked in a breath. Oh Merlin! Its Severus she thought. Her heart was thumping madly and her blood felt like liquid fire. Severus Snape is in my store! And I get to serve him! SEVERUS SNAPE IS HERE! her mind squealed, her consciousness jumping up and down with sheer joy, while her exterior portrayed a wide smile.
Severus looked at her oddly, looking her up and down for a moment. "Hello.." he said slowly. "Could I please get some powdered Moonstone and some dragon scales?"
Ambrosia still couldn't quite get over her excitement until she snapped herself out of it and gave a him a beaming smile which seemed to make Severus shift uncomfortably.
"Of coarse! I'd be glad to help!" she chirped happily.
She smiled uncontrollably while she bent behind the counter for the moonstone and dragon scales box for special order distribution.
"What amount of each would you like?" she asked brightly, flicking her head up and looking at him with the same amount of happiness when he had walked in.
Severus didn't know why this girl was so happy... Usually his presence triggered displeasure or distaste in people he met or people who knew him. But this girl- She was smiling at him like no one had ever smiled at him before. Lily had smiled at him of coarse, but not with a passionate glittering smile this girl seemed to smile at him with. Severus noted that her expression right now made her one of the most beautiful things Severus had ever laid his eyes on. But didn't she know who he was?! He didn't recognise her as a Hogwarts student and she bore no resemblance to any wizarding families he recognised. Severus wondered who this girl was. Of coarse he wasn't so interested as to ask!
Severus brushed it off and responded quickly to her question. "200 grams of moonstone and 2.5 grams of dragonscales, please".
Ambrosia nodded politely, and still smiling she placed a bag on the scales, zeroed it, and proceeded to weigh out the desired amount of ingredients.
"So... are you enjoying your holidays?" Ambrosia asked still thrilled at his presence, while trying to remain casual and polite.
Unless enjoyment included being beaten by his drunk father most nights, and watching his mother suffer the misery of a broken family, then no he wasn't having an enjoyable holiday.
"Yes." he lied simply. As if he'd tell her otherwise.
Ambrosia seemed to be studying him intently and could see the momentary flash in his eyes. She narrowed her eyes at him very slightly and proceeded to weigh out the ingredients. I know Severus. It was tactless for me to ask. I'm sorry.
She had finished weighing out the ingredients and had tied them up in two separate plastic bags.
"That's great!" she said falsely. "So that will be 25 sickles and 6 knuts please..."
He narrowed his eyes at her, still trying to work her out. He then reached into his robes and gave her the money.
"Thank you" Ambrosia said politely, putting it into the till.
Severus nodded in politeness, took his purchases, and walked out the door.
"Bye!" Ambrosia called after him.
Just as he walked out the door, his collar had fallen down a bit and with a pang, Ambrosia could see that he had heavy bruising on either side of his neck.
She slid down the wall that she had been leaning on and her eyes began to water.
She loved Severus as a character! But seeing him in real life, suffering, saddened her greatly.
The tears fell silently. "I'm sorry Severus..." she whispered very quietly, as she gently brushed the tears out of her eyes.
The rest of the day, despite Ambrosia's sadness over Severus, was quite pleasant. Sirius had finished stocking the store at around eleven and came to chat to Ambrosia while there were no customers.
She had served and met a lot of pleasant people, and had even sold a few extra items. She felt that she was doing rather well, and this gave her a great sense of achievement. After working for 10 hours, Ambrosia and Sirius closed the store down at 4pm, and both walked out side by side extremely content and with 15 galleons pay each.
"So you enjoyed today then Ambrosia?" Sirius asked happily.
Ambrosia smiled. "Very much, yes" she said serenely.
"Now that we have a steady job for the summer we can support ourselves a little and help the Potters out!" he said happily.
"Yes, I don't want to burden them. Mr and Mrs Potter have been most kind to me. As have James and yourself" Ambrosia quipped joyfully.
"You have especially been of help to me Sirius! Thanks for-" Emotion started to get a grip on her and she flung her arms around him and embraced him tightly. "Thanks for being a great friend!" she said soulfully.
He returned the embrace, "No problem" he responded gently.
They were now away from the main shop and were walking through a little bushy inlet with a pond where children would feed the ducks and wild geese. The parkland birds were a popular spectacle and the geese were often very bossy.
Both Ambrosia and Sirius were walking peacefully, enjoying the silence and comfort of each other's company.
However, their progression along the path was stopped by three people who walked out in front of them.
Sirius recognised them as Crabbe, Doyle and Regulus Black-his younger brother...
"So..." Reg said haughtily. "You get kicked out and had to run to golden boy James Potter for help did you?" he asked, laughing in a mock tone. The others followed.
Sirius' blood boiled.
Ambrosia looked the three boys over and couldn't make out who they were. She stood closer to Sirius, rather uneasy.
"Shut up and stay out of my way Reg!" Sirius snapped angrily, grabbing Ambrosia's hand to lead her around them.
But Regulus wouldn't have it. "Mother will be disgustingly pleased to verify that you are now bludging off the Potters-the blood traitors. Hey, she even started to scrape your name off the family tree the other day, maybe this piece of information will cause her to finish the job!" Reg taunted.
Hurt flashed in Sirius eyes, and the next thing he knew he was stalking over to his brother with great speed and grabbed him by the collar. Regulus looked afraid for a second, before a fist collided with his right cheek.
The boys started fighting avidly. The two muscly specimens grabbed Sirius off Regulus and started to beat him.
Sirius was putting up a good fight, his rage making him wild and uncontrolled.
Ambrosia was scared for him. What can I do!? she asked herself.
"Sirius!" she cried before she looked around her and found a nice rock the size of an orange and chucked it at the brutes head who was currently restraining Sirius while the others beat into him.
The rock hit its target and with a groan the boy let go of Sirius and fell to the floor groaning in pain and holding his head with two hands.
Sirius retreated back several steps towards Ambrosia, anticipating another attack towards himself or her.
"Your mudblood girfriend will pay for that Sirius!" Reg screeched. "Goyle take care of Sirius! I'll get the girl!" Goyle who was several inches taller than Crab and more muscular if possible rushed at Sirius and Sirius dodged in time, but now the two were locked in a death grip match, he couldn't get away.
Regulus pulled out his wand and gave a nasty gleam towards Ambrosia. "You dishonor the name of our family by being with my brother mudblood! Not that he matters, but I'll take care of you!"
"No!" Sirius yelled, trying to throw Goyle of him and get to Ambrosia.
Ambrosia retreated back several steps towards the pond. She didn't have a wand, and she didn't know if she was a wizard or not yet. She had no way of defending herself! Her eyes were wide in fear and her mouth was open slightly. There was a scary gleam in his eyes and he had his wand pointed straight at her head.
The ducks and geese that inhabit the pond had strangely not flown away during the riot between them. They seemed to be observing very closely, and just as Ambrosia was about to be cursed by Regulus' wand, something hit him in the head, causing him to falter.
"Oww!" he said, removing his hand from a now bleeding gash on his forehead. "What was that!?".
And then he finally got his answer.
Dozens of magpies, ducks, geese and pigeons were zooming around and at him, making him retreat from Ambrosia and bolt in the opposite direction, protecting his head from more blows from various birds.
Ambrosia was stunned. She stood there in amazement watching the birds rip pieces of Regulus' black hair out.
The birds then started to zoom towards Goyle who had just realised Regulus'plight, and who currently had Sirius in a lock..
They started to violently swoop him too and Goyle immedietly let go of Sirius and let out a feminine screech-as if he was a bird himself!
He bolted after Regulus, as did Crabbe who had just managed to stand on all fours, and was sporting a big bleeding egg on the side of his head.
Ambrosia couldn't stop laughing-the sight of them all fleeing, yelling and falling all over themselves was hilarious. Sirius had joined her at her side and was laughing too.
The birds continued to circle around for another thirty seconds or so and when danger no longer presented itself, they landed in the grass or the pond, and started to quietly search for bugs.
The biggest goose who was white, with a long niche, and hardy orange beak waddled towards Ambrosia and Sirius with a loud "Honk!"
He stopped right in front of Ambrosia's feet and honked again.
Ambrosia looked quickly at Sirius, smiled, then bent down and reached out her hand. The goose waddled forward a bit more and lay the top of his head in her palm, where she proceeded to give him a scratch.
The pigeons were cooing softly, almost as if they were trying to calm everyone.
"Thanks!" Ambrosia said gratefully and gave him a final scratch before he gave a soft honk in reply, and flew towards the pond, to hunt for insects with his flock.
A family had just arrived with two small children, and the kids were splashing in the shallows and throwing bread at the birds, who gobbled it up quickly.
Sirius stared in wonder at the birds. His gaze then met Ambrosias'
"They like you for some reason. They protected us because of you were here!" he announced in awe.
Ambrosia's cheeks tinged pink slightly. "No they didn't. Birds are very good in sensing and responding to danger. They are intelligent animals, and I think they were able to empathise with us when we were in danger. Still we owe them!" Ambrosia explained modestly. She didn't admit that this incident could have been anything else. Not yet. She was still in awe herself from the event!
"Come off it Ambrosia it was-" but he was cut off by Ambrosias' fingertips on his bruised and cut eyelid and eyebrow. His nose looked swollen also. "Those bastards! Look what they've done to you..."
Sirius closed his hand around her hand still in place on his eyebrow. "I'm fine." he assured her looking into her eyes. "Thanks for throwing that rock-good aim. You saved me from Crabbe. And you got those birds to do something. You saved me then too. Thank you, Amb."
Ambrosia inwardly gasped. That was the first time he had called her a nickname! She beamed with joy! "That's quite alright Siri."
Sirius grinned at her in turn and gave her a gentle slap on the back.
"Come Amb, lets head back to the Potters! I can't wait to tell James how those gits finally got what was coming to them! It'll be hilarious!" he said excitedly.
Ambrosia laughed. "Yes! James will be positively dying with laughter!" she said brightly, and they walked arm in arm back to the floo channel in Diagon Alley and travelled home.