Cold

Chapter Seventeen

(Draco Malfoy)

"Alright, wands out," Snape said, pacing in front of us. "This won't be easy-I warn you."

Ginny and I exchanged worried glances, which became a little more uneasy when my mother waltzed in, placed milk and cookies on a nearby table, and left without a word.

"Why aren't they talking?" Ginny whispered below Snape's lecture.

"Not sure but I don't like it," I replied. "Something must have happened yesterday."

"Excuse me!"

Ginny and I jumped into attention. Snape glared at us.

"Surely your attention spans can't be that bad!" Snape exclaimed. "How could you lose attention so easily?! There's only two of you!"

I shuffled my feet.

"We're sorry," we both said in unison.

"Alright then, let's begin," Snape sighed, holding up his wand. "The first thing we're going to learn is a curing spell-God knows the two of you get hurt enough."

The two of us remained completely silent.

"Draco, give me your hand."

"Why?"

"Right now, I am your teacher and you do not question your teacher. Give me your hand."

I pouted and gave him my hand. Snape pulled out a potion from his robe. It was a sick green color and was held in a crystal flask.

"Now, don't move."

"Why would I want to?" I asked, fear in my voice.

I soon found out, of course, when he poured the potion on the palm of my hand. A burning sensation shot through my arm and I yelped.

"AH! STOP! OWOWOW!"

Snape let go of my wrist I shook my hand, trying to cool it. After I pulled it up to my face, I could see that my skin was marred and burnt and bloody.

"What the hell did you do that for?!" I yelled.

"Draco, lower your voice," Snape replied flatly.

"Ow," I muttered.

"Now Ginny, this will be your chance to learn the cure spell," Snape poured some on his hand and pulled his wand out. "Now, watch."

Snape moved his wand around in a small circle and chanted, "Rememdium!"

The burn disappeared from his hand. He quickly pointed to me.

"Fix Draco's hand," he said.

"If she gets it wrong..." I started curiously.

"Shut up! You're making me nervous!" Ginny exclaimed.

I closed my eyes and looked away as she moved her wand in a small circle, just as Snape had and uttered the word he had said.

"Rememdium!"

After a moment, the pain was vanquished. I looked my hand over, then smiled.

"Awesome."

Ginny beamed at me.

"You're a quick learner. Now, Draco will learn. Ginny, give me your hand."

The lessons went on similarly throughout the week, and soon enough we were experts on all different kinds of spells-some illegal, some not. I enjoyed the lessons as much as Ginny did, but we both still had a strange suspicion as to what had happened between our teacher and my mother. After a couple of weeks, Christmas was arriving and the two of us were finally getting the new tricks down-not without a few quirks, however.

"Aestus!" Ginny yelled, pointing her wand at me.

Fire immediately set to my robe and I was jumping around, desperately trying to cool it. By the time it was over, I had stomped the fire out of my robe and had to use the new healing spell to cure the burn on my arm. Snape had been quiet but I could see the silent laughter in his eyes. Ginny was flushing, almost crying, as she apologized over and over at a quick pace.

"It's fine," I assured. "It's FINE."

"Yes, now, here's what you did wrong..." Snape began.

"I don't see why I am always the one that gets hurt," I sighed.

Things went on like that for a while, but Snape gave us a break for Christmas Eve and Christmas-not that we were complaining. Sure, we loved him, but the two of us were running out of vacation and hadn't done much vacationing-just magic. Still, though we were learning, we came closer-if that was even possible.

We were always joking behind Snape's back and pulling pranks on him. I knew he knew we did it, but he never did anything to stop us. His eyebrow just tweaked slightly and we went on with our lesson like nothing had happened. We stopped after awhile-guilt had claimed us-but it was worth the good laugh.

Ginny had much more to learn-she didn't know the Unforgivable Curses like I did-not that I killed anyone or anything. Not only that, but I had begun teaching her to dance. She was quite good at it, actually-she was much more graceful than she ever let on. Her lean form helped as well. I didn't even know how skinny she was with the baggy hand-me-downs she usually wore. Now, with these new clothes, she showed her womanly figure much better. Still, half the bags in her room were clothes for her family. Her generosity was overflowing.

She twirled and I found her in my arms again. My heart went still as I stared into those glossy eyes so full of life. My hand went back to her waist and I waltzed her across the room to the soft music. Her auburn curls seemed to have the same grace of her feet. I had no idea why she hated them so much. I supposed it was a desperate attempt to get Potter's attention, but hadn't worked, therefore had caused her to hate them. They seemed to be growing on her affections though, especially after I expressed how much better they made her look.

She was so elegant-it was like she was made for my lifestyle, not the one she was used to. Still, I didn't look down on her for it any longer. I found it... almost endearing that a woman from such a background could still hold her head high and smile. Of course I smile, she would say, because I am happy. Happy people smile. They did. I did. She did. We were all happy... finally.

"This is wonderful," she said. "It's so much fun!"

"You're a natural," I said, picking her up by the waist and raising her above my head.

Her curls curtained me for a moment as I turned softly around, moving her slowly back to the floor. We were quickly nose to nose, then toe to toe. I was severely tempted to keep her right at my nose so I could look at her. I found myself watching her more and more often. She noticed of course, but didn't scold. She was watching me too. I was sure if it was a growing affection or if we had sort of become the other's guardian angel. The former seemed to become more and more likely. I hated not being around her, and she hated not being around me. She usually tromped into my room at night to talk to me, and by morning we would be asleep next to each other.

"I think that's enough for the day," I said. "What do you say we go take a walk out in the garden?"

"Sounds good," she replied, straightening the pleats in her gray skirt.

She had taken quite a liking to gray, though I thought that the color was rather dull compared to her vibrant hair. Strangely enough, my favorite color had become red, though green was still high on my list of course. She grabbed a blue jean jacket that she had borrowed from her brother before she had left and headed towards the door.

The gray skirt was attached as a dress under her chest, where it came as a black material that held around her neck and halted at her shoulders. The skirt ended at her knees in which started knee high, lace-up boots-she had just put them on after dancing in socks. They weren't very delicate like the outfit, but she just had to have them, and I thought they added a bit of spice to the outfit.

I pulled my black trench coat over my outfit and slipped my feet into my shoes. We laced fingers, as we often did, and began to stroll out among the grass and flowers. The clouds showed likeliness of a snow.

(Severus Snape)

"Sit down, Severus. Have some tea," Narcissa said softly.

I had apparated there not five minutes ago. It was nice to know we were back on speaking terms if anything. I joined her at the kitchen table, watching her silently, feeling guilty. Her eyes were as sad as they were the night not-so-long-ago. I folded my hands and rested my chin on them, thinking softly about everything that she had said to me before.

"I came to apologize," I replied curtly, taking a sip of the tea.

I was happy to see that lemon and honey had been added to my tea. I had been suffering from quite a cold and it was soothing on my throat. She raised her eyebrows high. I could see them for her hair was pulled back tightly in a plait that fell over her shoulder. It shimmered.

"Whatever for, Severus?"

I sighed, "Look, I don't want the silence between us, okay? I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Lucius is a bastard, and I know you're heartbroken. I understand the impact that this whole thing has had on you and Draco and... I really don't want a rift between us, especially not now."

"I understand," she replied, flipping her braid behind her, "But... what led you to apologize?"

"I... haven't really been able to get the conversation off my mind," I replied truthfully, feeling awkward.

"I see," I saw her eyes twinkle, slightly mischievously but still sad.

"Um..." I stared around the room. "Wh-where's Draco and Ginny?"

"They went out into the garden. They could stay out there all day. They'll probably be gone until the sun sets."

"That's not too long from now..."

"About two hours actually," she replied, "It's only four o' clock."

"Really?" I raised my eyebrows, surprised.

We were silent for a few minutes, staring into our tea, catching slight glances of each other now and then. Narcissa smiled softly and stood.

"Would you like a scone?" she asked.

"No, thank you," I said. "I'm not hungry."

"I'm not either," she sighed.

More silence. I found myself fiddling with my fingers. My thoughts were swimming back to something Lily had told me.

"You're... you're in... l-love?" I felt my voice shudder.

"Yes, very," Lily sighed, looking ashamed but still smiling. "Please be happy for me. I'm begging you."

"I am happy for you, Lily, of course I am," I said sincerely, "But... I can't say I'm very happy for myself..."

"Severus," Lily said, placing a hand softly on my face, "I love you, but I'm not IN love with you."

"But I AM in love with YOU!" I yelped too quickly to stop.

Lily pulled her hand away like my face was a hot oven. I sighed and turned around, feeling a lump in my throat.

"L-look, I do love you, Lily, and I want you to be happy... s-so... if you want to marry James Potter, that's completely up to you. I will be by your side to make sure you get all you need... and you always have somewhere to turn."

Lily let out a sob. "I'm sorry, Severus, but... with all that's happened... I don't think we should see each other much more. I..."

"Enough," I growled. "That's all I need to hear. Goodbye Lily Eva-- Lily Potter."

"Severus!" she yelled after me as I moved away quickly, "I'm not the one for you! You know that! SEVERUS! ONE DAY YOU'LL FIND YOUR SOULMATE TOO!"

"Severus?"

I blinked, looking up. Narcissa was staring at me strangely.

"Sorry, what?"

"You were staring off into nowhere. You looked quite upset. Everything alright?" Narcissa asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Just memories coming back, you know," I rubbed my temples, feeling a headache coming on.

"Yes, I know," she said, "All too well."

"I only loved one woman in my life, and she got married to another man. Did you know that?"

"Yes, I did," Narcissa replied. "Lily Evans was your shooting star in school-then James went and 'stole' her away from you, didn't he?"

"Lucius told you?"

"No, I could see it, Severus. I was in Slytherin too, you know-though I wanted to be in Ravenclaw. I guess I was supposed to be connected to the Dark Arts forever. I truly hoped Draco would end up in Ravenclaw, but it didn't happen. Lucius got his wish."

"You know what Lily told me before she got married to James?" I stared out into nowhere.

"No, what?"

"She told me that she was not the one for me... and that one day... I'd find my soul mate too. I thought she was crazy; I thought she was MY soul mate and that I'd never find another woman like her."

"What are you saying?" Narcissa asked, her voice shuddering slightly.

"I'm saying that THEN I thought she was crazy, but NOW... I think she was right. I mean... look how happy James made her... even if they were only together for a small while. She was not my soul mate. I've let that go... I'm ready to move on, Narcissa."

She remained silent, but the grip tightened on my shoulder. My hand went up and placed itself just on top of hers.

"Look at me," she said.

I complied, turning my head to the left and twisting my waist slightly to get a good look at her. She smiled.

"Good boy," she snickered, "now stand up."

I did so. Her eyes trailed up to mine, looking grave.

"Now kiss me."

I leaned in slowly, waiting for her to finish the distance, which didn't take long. Our lips met softly and my eyes flew closed. Her hand trailed behind my head and locked in some of my hair, the other on the back of my neck. My hands hit the wall behind her, basically pinning her there, not that she would go anywhere. Her tongue nudged my lips apart and I battled her for dominance. She was always the independent one, but as I did this, she leaned against the wall for support. The vulnerability was perfect with her. She grasped my shirt and pulled me closer to where I was pressing her against the wall. My lungs screamed for oxygen, but the feeling was just so fulfilling, I never wanted it to end. Still we broke away, breathless.

"Wow," she whispered. "Lucius never kissed me like that."

"Either that, or he did and you just didn't react the same way," I said, pulling her hair down from it's plait.

"I think you're right," she said in a near silent giggle. "God..."

Her eyes were glazed over, a darker blue. The grip she had on my shirt hadn't loosened until that moment. She slid my cloak off my shoulders, letting it fall to the floor. Then, she pushed me down to the floor. It only hurt for a moment. She was straddling me, her hair a curtain around us. She smiled down at me.

"My turn."

"Shouldn't we get to know each other first?" I replied.

"Later," she replied quickly, kissing my neck roughly.

It wasn't hard to notice the tearstains on her cheek, but they didn't disturb me. I knew it wasn't for sorrow-not this time. I rolled over on top of her and smirked.

"Honestly, here?"

"You're a bastard," she whispered into my ear, making the hairs on my neck prickle. "God, I love you."

"For how long?" I was enjoying teasing her.

"Stop asking me questions! I can't think right now!"

"Dinner," I said, "At nine. Meet me at the Eiffel Tower, eh? We'll go somewhere nice."

She looked about to retort, but sighed, "Okay then. Nine it is."

I got up and straightened my clothes, grabbing my cloak off the floor.

"And after that," I said, just before apparating away, "Well, I'll let YOU decide what we do, heh."

Her eyes twinkled and I was gone.