Ch. 22 Comfort and Joy

Severus stood there looking at Tabatha as she bid farewell to Mipsy. A short time ago she was in his arms; a short time ago he was seconds away from ….. Severus stopped his thinking process before it went any further and went over to pour a glass of elf wine, and drank it in one gulp. Then he quickly refilled his glass and brought it up to his lips, contemplating taking the gobbet full as a shot again, but quickly thought against it. Not being in complete control of his faculties around Tabatha would probably prove unwise if only for the sheer embarrassment that could come from it. Looking back at Tabatha he saw her close the door then turn back around.

"Well, that will be fun". Tabatha smiled, "but what shall we do in the meantime it's only nine."

Severus thought of about half dozen different things he could do with her in an hour, and with that quickly drank down the second glass of wine and poured a third and sat down on the sofa.

Tabatha watched him carefully as the thoughts of what happened between them also filled her mind. "What would it be like to kiss Severus Snape?" She thought for a moment. "Probably good, probably very good", her mind went a step further wondering what else he would be good at when she felt a strong blush rushing up to her face. Quickly she moved over to the other corner of the room to try to suppress her fantasy.

"Well since were on a roll here, might as well finish opening your gifts." She spook in mid stride.

Reaching behind her dresser she pulled out another much larger gift wrapped in the iconic Slytherin green and silver. She held the gift to her chest as she walked over to Severus and smiled.

"I really hope you like this." She sat down next and handed him the gift.

"Green and Silver again huh, you know how to charm the head of Slytherin house I see" Severus smiled back, and took the gift.

"I know how strong your ties are to your house" her eyes were softer than usual "now go on open it, I promise what's in there is better than paper, Slytherin colors or not."

Though he already knew what was in it he was surprised to note how excited he was over it. His smile only got strong as he pulled back the paper. Finally there before him was the book he had coveted for most of his life. The large black book had gold letters on the front of it, which Severus ran the tips of his long pale fingers over slowly.

"It's Beautiful", he whispered.

Tabatha smiled then also pointed to the gold letters. "What does it say Sev?" she asked earnestly

"Asarlaíocht dar Merlin" the words poured out of Severus like breath. "Literarily in Celtic it says 'Witchcraft of Merlin'." Severus opened the book to a random page and brought his eyes up to Tabatha's "This is supposed to be everything Merlin ever did, ever spell he created, every potion… this is amazing."

Tabatha Smiled at him again then got up to get another glass of wine herself

Severus eyes followed after Tabatha, then he brought them back to the book, he was floored, she had gotten him probably the only the earth thing he had still wanted, that could still bring him joy since Lily. Severus thought for a moment; perhaps that was no longer correct. Perhaps he wanted another earthly thing now. Tabatha's voice broke his thoughts.

"I'm really glad you like it, and you still have some time to get all potion mastery on that book before its time to go upstairs, that is if you can tear yourself away from it." Tabatha laughed.

Severus looked back at her

"That is very true, I suppose I could just forget your gift, and relish my own." He smirked.

Tabatha's eyes lit up and she practically jumped over the back of the sofa. "You got me a gift?" She exclaimed with a huge grin.

"Ah yes I was wondering you're your twelve year old version would present itself." Severus cocked his eyebrow and looked her over. "How cruel would it be to tell you the truth about Father Christmas as this time?"

Tabatha covered her ears "I'd refuse to believe you" she giggled, "Now you did say gift didn't you."

Severus couldn't help himself from smiling but pulled his wand out "Accio gift" he said calmly and a very large wrapped gift flew to Severus and landed in front of his feet. "I hope you like it" his voice was soft.

Tabatha looked down, the gift was wrapped in a white paper that seemed to have snowflakes magically falling all over it, and the bow was a silver blue translucent color, almost of ice, it was lovely.

"Oh Sev" she sighed, "you did much better than I did on this part" she gasped as she looked the package over again and again.

Severus again laughed, "Well like you said I hope you like what is inside even better."

Severus watched as she carefully removed the paper and pulled off the top to the large box. Tabatha reached inside and pulled out a pair of pants, but they did not look like a normal pair of pants. They were gray but a muted gray rather unflattering gray, their material didn't feel like anything she ever felt before. Looking under the pants she found two shirts, one was a thicker zip up sweater, a skirt, a pair of very plain shoes, and a smaller box that said "unmentionables" which Tabatha would guess held well everything that went under these.

Looking up Tabatha smiled. "Thank you so much it was very thoughtful of you."

Severus bit his bottom lip to stop from laughing, these were the most hideous things he had ever seen, and here she was being gracious as always.

"Put the sweater on" Severus attempted to keep his voice calm.

Tabatha smiled again, this time a bit less convincing, and sighed "If you like" then pulled the sweater on.

Severus stood up and walked to Tabatha, placing his hands on her shoulders he guided her to the mirror in the room.

"I want you to close your eyes and think of how you'd like this to look." He whispered in her ear.

Tabatha obediently closed her eyes and thought about something that might suit her better.

"Open your eyes" Severus voice called to her.

Where once there was a drape gray sweater a rich chocolate brown cardigan replaced. Tabatha ran her hands over the soft knit material "This is beautiful" she awed.

"Yes much better than that crud you were trying to be humble over" Severus snickered.

Tabatha blushed, smiled and looked awkwardly away. "Well they weren't that bad."

"Bullocks!" Severus finally started to laugh "those are the ugliest things I have ever seen, and as you can tell I'm not one for fashion." He brought his hands up to his own clothing.

He finally stopped laughing and said in a softer voice "But it was very nice of you to be gracious." He walked over to the box again "These are magical enchanted cloths, anything you want them to look like and they will transform into that particular item." He raked his hand though his hair, "You had mentioned one night, that you would need jeans to be able to live here with me, so I thought it would be wise to get you something to insure you'd…well.. You'd stay…." his shyness took over and his eyes looked to the ground "..With me.."

Tabatha heart started to beat faster¸ he wanted her to stay with him, the warm of the sweater with his words were giving her a feeling of total comfort.

"I'll always stay with you." She said softly and Severus raised his head. The chime from the clock tower interrupted the glance.

"it's ten already, we better get going..huh" Tabatha smiled awkwardly, and pulled off the cardigan laying it on her bed.

"Yes we better" Severus looked around nervously and started to walk to the door, pulling it open he paused and stepped back holding it open. "After you".

Tabatha smiled normally again and walked out of her chamber, Severus following right behind as they made their way up to the party.