Hello out there, guys!
It took me foever, I know, I'm so sorry!
I hope you don't have much of a problem with elemental magic- it will play a part in the story, but not a major one, I promise!
And CookieSpells4 pointed out, that Aerwyna is not a really common name and I think now is the right time to explain-
It means "friend of the sea".
You will understand, if you read the chapter ;)
I want to thank CookieSpells4 for her message, because you reminded me, that it's been far too long!
Thank you also so much for your review, I can't get enough of them! And for recommending me to your friend, that was totally nice, and I'm so thankful you can't believe it!
Another thank you to ScarletBreezes, who left an awesome review for my first fanfic, you made my day and I hope, you actually read this!
pennypotter128 I am so glad, you reviewed again, it's nice to now, you are still on board :)
And WebOfSmiles, I loved your review, it was adorable!
I owe another thank you to spinnersend, FredsForeverFanGirl, lil witch and twilightlover4life13, who are now following the story or/and have added it to their favorites!
Thank you so much for your support guys, it means a lot to me, believe me.
Enough rambling for today!
I hope you enjoy the next chapter!
Lots of Love
Jez
P.S.: If you have time, please leave a review :)
Autumn had finally surrendered and winter held England in its tight grasp.
Snow was gathering on Aerwyna's shoulders as she stood stiffly, staring at the priest in front of her, but none of his words reached her.
Her mother was dead, buried in the frozen ground, and as she stared at the hole, in which the coffin had disappeared merely minutes ago, she felt an emptiness, different from everything she had known so far.
Her mother had left her a year ago as she had locked her daughter out of her life with no chance of turning back.
But as long as she had lived, there had always been a chance, Aerwyna just didn't take it.
And now she had left her for good.
She felt suddenly sick, her hand clasped over her stomach and she shivered frantically.
A warm hand covered her smaller one, a smooth thumb stroke across her palm.
She looked up, eyes wide, to see Severus smiling down at her sadly.
The sickening feeling ceased and he leaned down: "That you are grieving, although she had not loved you as a mother should love her daughter, is a trait of yours, Wyna. I am here for you, little stream."
His voice was soothing as ever and she leaned into him, allowed him to put his arm around her, savouring the feeling.
She was not grieving for her mother alone, but for the absolute love of a mother she had never experienced.
Christmas holidays had started, covering Hogwarts' castle with a thick blanket of snow.
Aerwyna had the dormitory to herself, loneliness wrapped around her.
She sat on the sill of the magical window, staring as the stars were replaced by the sun and how the snow fell slowly.
The day was turning into night, when she felt her stomach grumble.
Yawning she walked down the stairs and through the common room.
"Dinner is over", Severus sat on the couch, staring intently at her.
"Oh… Crap", she mumbled, feeling embarrassed for any reason.
"Wyna", he stood up and walked over to her, rubbing up and down her arms with his hands.
She avoided his gaze, humming to signal, that she had heard him.
"I took some food with me down here. I figured you would get hungry some time", he grinned at her.
She looked up at him and smiled widely.
They spent the next few hours in the deserted common room, laughing and remembering stories. Aerwyna felt as though the last years had never happened, as though it was still just them and had always been.
As the first beams of sunlight hit the windows, they had fallen asleep side by side.
It was already midday, when they woke up, earning awkward glances from a group seventh years, that gathered in a corner, learning.
Severus smiled at Aerwyna, who stretched and yawned beside him.
Her stomach grumbled and she growled: "Hungry!"
She jumped off the couch and grasped his hand, pulling him with her as she nearly ran all the way to the Great Hall.
He laughed as she dropped on the bank and started to gulp everything she could reach.
She looked up and grinned embarrassed.
Sauce had gathered in the corner of her mouth and was rolling down her chin, so he stretched his hand to wipe it away.
Aerwyna's eyes widened and he felt like he had just crossed a line, his cheeks heating up lightly.
He withdrew and they spent the rest of their meal in silence.
Aerwyna's heart pounded inappropriately fast, considering the causality of the touch, but she couldn't help herself. She found herself pondering what to say to break the awkward silence, but nothing came to her.
"Would you like to go to the library? We could start with our homework", Severus mumbled.
"Yeah, sure!", she exclaimed, sounding more enthusiastic, than she had intended.
As they walked up the stairs, the tension decreased significantly and they were already chatting again, when they arrived.
Severus disappeared behind a book shelve, containing volumes about herbs, while Aerwyna wandered off, not really paying attention to where she was going.
She found herself at the end of a shelve, which seemed to contain books of a variety of topics.
There were tales and stories, encyclopaedias and lexicons, old textbooks and a collection of scrolls. She touched the backs of some books and let her gaze wander across their titles.
One of them caught her eye: The Art Of Elemental Magic
She looked around to make sure, nobody was watching and pulled it out, looking over its cover. It was old and worn, the letters faded.
She followed an impulse and let it slip into her bag, just when Severus crossed the corner and said: "Are you coming?"
"Yes!", she blurted and followed him to a table, that was already covered with books and scrolls.
They worked silently, from time to time mumbling answers or questions to the other.
It was half past seven, when Aerwyna caught herself yawning every two minutes and Severus smiled at her, gesturing for them to leave.
"Well, we made quite some process", he said as they descended the staircases.
"Are you kidding me? I am able to recite the whole fucking book!", Aerwyna sighed, earning a disapproving look from the portrait of an white-haired wizard with pop eyes.
Severus merely chuckled.
"I think, I'll go to bed", she said, eager for crawling into bed with her mysterious book.
Severus raised one eye brow at her: "It's barely eight o'clock, are you alright?"
"Yeah, just tired. Maybe I'll read some time, before I actually go to sleep", she said.
Well, that's not exactly a lie.
She didn't know, why she wouldn't tell him. But there was something about this book, she wanted to herself, like her own little secret, nobody knows about.
"Hmm, okay, Wyna. Sleep well, little stream", he smiled and her heart warmed at the sight.
"Thank you, Sevvie", before he could protest about his nickname, she got on tiptoes and placed a light, gentle kiss on his cheek.
The blush spread immediately, so she spun around and hurried out of sight.
Severus remained, frozen to the spot.
His hand crawled up to where Aerwyna's lips had touched his skin and he furrowed his brows. He wasn't sure, why she had done it. The most likely assumption was, that she wanted to thank him for his support. But why did his heart flutter, as he stared at her rushing away?
-°-°-
Aerwyna leaned against the door of her dormitory, not sure, if she should yell out in embarrassment. Her face decided on grinning dumbly, while she searched through her bag.
With the old book in hands, she sat on her bed, leaving the bag on its end, and leaned against her pillows as she opened it.
The introduction told her, that if you master the art of elemental magic, you are able to control one out of the four elements- air, water, earth and fire- without using your wand.
The first step was to find out, which element is most similar to your personality.
Aerwyna laid the book down beside her, staring at the opposite wall for a while.
She thought back to her childhood and the superhero films, she had to watch with her mother.
She had not been the biggest of fans, as she found them quite ridiculous. Frowning, she bit her lip, now staring at the book.
If she was able to learn this thing, it would be an advantage in fight. Should she lose her wand, she could at least defend herself as long as she needed to get it back.
If she failed, nobody would ever know, as she would not tell anybody about it.
A smile widened her lips as she thought of Lily's face, should she ever get to use it in a fight against her. The pranks she could play!
The Slytherin within her cheered. She needed this. She needed something, that would make her feel at least a bit special, a little advantage over the red-headed angel.
She grabbed the book again, sinking deeper into her pillows.
There were a few spells listed to every element. The task was to remind yourself of every detail of the element and try the spells.
Aerwyna felt more ridiculous with each minute as she tried to figure out the smell and touch of air.'
She grumbled spell after spell, sighing after each try.
Deciding to let air be air, she turned the page. Earth seemed easier to her, but brought as much result as the air-project had.
Water was the next step.
"Fluvius", she mumbled. Her wand seemed to vibrate a little, but she considered, that it might just be her tired body shaking.
"Stagnum", nothing at all happened.
"Amnus", she sighed. A little light appeared at the top of her wand, but vanished nearly immediately.
There was one more spell on the list and it reminded her of salt, wind and waves.
"Pelagus",
she whispered.
A blue spark lighted the dormitory, followed by spatters of water.
She shrieked, startled, but then just stared at the spots on her blanket, that disappeared slowly as they dried.
A smile grew on her face, excitement and mischief all the same.
The christmas holidays passed by quickly.
Severus and Aerwyna spent their time learning, playing chess or wandering the grounds.
At night Aerwyna would try to exercise the art of elemental magic, growing more frustrated with each day, as she made not as much progress as she had hoped.
Classes started all too soon and they found themselves once more in the crowded common room.
Oliver sat beside Aerwyna and Severus on the couch, not paying attention to their conversation as he seemed to stare into nothingness.
Aerwyna glanced at him and then smirked. She knew exactly, what he was staring at.
She pulled out her Potions book, opened it and stared at the invitation, she had gotten earlier that day.
Slughorn planned to have a "semester starting party", as he called it.
Aerwyna had not been enthusiastic about the idea, but now a plan started to form in her head, but she would have to talk to Severus about it first.
Her grin grew wider.
Imogen stood in front of the mirror in their dormitory, swaying forth and back, frowning.
"You look stunning, Gen! Trust me", Aerwyna sighed.
It was absolutely true. Imogen wore a green dress, that stopped right beneath her knees, her short hair curly and pulled back.
She just made some "humph" noise and turned away from her reflection.
"It's nice from Severus to take me with him to the party", she smiled.
"We considered, the more of us, the more fun for us", Aerwyna answered, giggling slightly.
She became better and better with telling half-truths.
-°-°-
They met Oliver and Severus in the common room.
Oliver stared embarrassed at his feet, while Severus grinned quite smugly.
Imogen furrowed her brows as she saw Oliver, but remained quiet, so Aerwyna said:
"Should we go then?"
On the way to Slughorn's office Aerwyna and Severus tried to make conversation, while Oliver remained silent and Imogen nodded.
Aerwyna grabbed Oliver's arms, gesturing to the others, that they should not wait for them.
"What the fuck are you playing at?", she growled.
He wouldn't meet her gaze, so she pulled at his arm a little harder:
"You are no twelve-year old, are you?"
Her annoyance seemed to wake him and he said: "I'm sorry, I can't form a proper sentence around her!"
"You will have to learn then", Aerwyna barked and dragged him back to Slughorn's office door.
The room looked slightly different than during the usual Slug Club meetings.
The light was dim, scarfs were wrapped around the few lamps and the air was heavy with perfumes and heat.
"Wow, it's crowded in here", Aerwyna muttered to get Oliver to relax a little.
"I'm sorry, I was so harsh", she added.
He looked down at her, finally smiling: "It's okay, you are right."
She smiled back at him and grabbed his hand: "Let's look for the others!"
Imogen and Severus were sitting on a couch, surrounded by Lily, Bertram Aubrey and Stebbins.
Aerwyna saw Crouch hanging about in a corner alone.
They approached the group, waving.
"Hello, everybody", Oliver said and got immediately wrapped up in a discussion with Aubrey about their last Charms trimester projects.
"Hi, Aerwyna", Lily said shyly. They had not talked to each other since their fight and Aerwyna was sure, that the red-head was still afraid, she might tell Severus, what she had overheard.
"Hi, Lily", she tried a smile and found it quite successful as Lily's face relaxed remarkably.
"I'm sorry for… well, you know", she said and rubbed the shorter girl's arm awkwardly.
For a moment Aerwyna wondered, what she meant, but then she remembered her mother's funeral and she was embarrassed about how fast the event had taken a back seat in her life.
"Umm, thank you", she mumbled.
Severus, who had been watching them, jumped in to prevent the conversation from turning even more awkward:
"Wyna, do you want to continue with Herbology or Astronomy tomorrow?"
Both girls stared at him for a moment, confusion written across their faces.
But as Aerwyna started to smile, Lily's expression turned into a frown.
"What do you mean?", the red-head asked, sounding nearly reproachful.
"Well, we have been learning together during the holidays", Severus answered.
"Oh. Okay", she crossed her arms in front of her chest.
Aerwyna glanced from one to the other. She had no clue what to say and deep within her, she kind of enjoyed Lily's jealous attitude.
As this thought hit her, she felt bitchy immediately.
"Aren't you going to join us, Lil?", she asked.
Severus looked at her thankfully, but Lily wore an entirely different expression.
"No, I don't think so", she spat and stalked away.
"What the fucking hell", Aerwyna mumbled as Severus scratched his head, shrugging his shoulders.
A few hours later, they watched Oliver and Imogen talking intently on the same couch they had occupied in the beginning.
Aerwyna giggled quietly as Severus smirked beside her.
"You know, it's a nice thing, we did, but I still feel like some evil imperator", he laughed, causing Aerwyna to giggle harder.
"Fuck, this is too much for me! Look how he's staring at her!"
"She's not better, really. His lips will be bruised by tomorrow, just from the way she gazes at them", Severus chuckled.
"It's kind of ridiculous", Aerwyna stated.
"Just because you have no one to stare at", he grinned.
"You have no idea", she mumbled.
"So there is someone?", he grinned even wider.
"I didn't say that!"
"Yes, you did."
"Shut your fat mouth, Snape."
"That's no proper language for a sweet girl like you."
"I will shove that sweet girl up your arse, if you don't shut up!"
Her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment and anger and Severus loved it.
Usually she was always in control, but he could make her blood boil.
His smug grin deepened, if that was even possible,
Aerwyna shoved him into the corner, against the wall, pointing at him with her finger:
"Don't you dare grin at me like that, Severus, or I swear, you'll regret it!"
"How is it, you always keep calm and cool, but you can't bear me teasing you", the grin remained.
She stared at him, her finger hanging in the air like she had forgotten about it.
Her mouth was slightly parted, as if she really thought about his words.
Severus stared down at her, watching as her face showed one adorable expression after the other. His heart fluttered again, but he didn't question it this time.
Later, he thought.
Suddenly he grabbed her finger, embracing her hand as he pulled her towards him.
She grabbed his shoulder for support, never breaking eye contact and she realized, that she hadn't seen his eyes from such a short distance for nearly six years by now.
It had been far too long. They were beautiful and turned her world upside down.
Onyx. Black. Darkest grey. Unbelievable deep blue.
This time it was her, who pulled him closer, crashing them together completely.
He bend down, staring into her eyes as if looking for something.
She didn't want to look at anything else, but his eyes for the rest of her life.
The moments passed by and they remained, as if frozen in their pose, untouched by the world.
And then they moved again, together, never looking away from each others eyes.
When their lips met, Aerwyna's eyes nearly fluttered close, but she forced them open, searching his for any expression, that might make her pull away, run away.
As she found none, she moved shyly against his velvet lips and felt him responding to her.
It was chaste, trying and gentle.
He stared into her ocean's eyes. She stared into his night's eyes.
