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Quaffle and Chain	By : CelesWarren Category: HP Canon Characters paired with Original Characters > Het - Male/Female Views: 4445 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters, J.K. Rowling does. I do own Celes though! I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
Chapter 7. Finding A Silver Lining

There were 2 weeks left before the term ended and Summer Vacation began, and Celes intended to use every free moment she had from now until then to find something good about her situation.

Snape was being at least somewhat civil, there was that. She’d get to buy a pretty new dress, a second silver lining! But what else? She couldn’t think of anything else, the only decent parts of this damned marriage were a pretty dress and somewhat civil conversation.

She wouldn’t give up though, she was determined to get to know that horrible man and find something attractive about him! He couldn’t be all bad could he?

The following Thursday she decided to sit by him at breakfast, after all she couldn’t find something to like about someone if they avoided her like the plague could she?

He frowned at her and seemed somewhat annoyed,

“You’re not going to start getting clingy are you Warren?”

“Celes…”

“What?”

“My name, it’s Celes…”

He smirked,

“According to my letter it’s Celestriana Varinius-Rinea Warren….”

Her eyes opened with shock at the sound of the terrible name she’d tried her best to bury, apparently the Ministry had it somewhere on file. She looked around to make sure no one was listening before responding in a whisper,

“Don’t you dare tell anyone!”

He looked deeply amused,

“Already trying to order me around Celestriana?”

“I want you to burn that letter!”

He chuckled darkly, and it made her shiver.

Why did she ever think there would be anything attractive about him? He took every opportunity he could find to rile her up and seemed to enjoy tormenting her as though it were a game. But then she did feel an adrenaline rush from their arguments, it made her feel somehow more alive…

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Later that evening, shortly before dinner, she decided to walk down to his office and see if she could get him to make her one of those delightful little potions. She could have gone straight to Poppy as she usually did, but she thought that if she could get him to do something selfless for her maybe her opinion of him would improve. It was worth a try wasn’t it?

She reached the door and was preparing to knock when it creaked open, Snape was standing there looking down at her, a sneer of annoyance on his face. He left the door open and walked back to his desk where a pile of graded parchments was stacked neatly on one corner, he was still adding to it by the looks of things.

“Are you just going to stand in my doorway or are you going to come inside?”

He asked her without looking up from his grading, again she felt like a child getting ready to serve detention. She hated feeling like that scared little girl again.

She closed the door, walked over to his desk, and set the vial he’d given her on it a little harder than necessary to get his attention.

He placed his quill down, sat back in his chair, and crossed his arms. His eyes lit up with that familiar look of amusement, and at once she knew she’d made a mistake. He reminded her of a cat getting ready to play with a cornered mouse, if he’d had a tail she was sure it would be dangerously swishing from left to right in anticipation.

“Something you want Celes?”

The way he said her name in that deep, silky voice made her shiver. She had to admit, despite all his horrible qualities he did have a nice voice…

She cleared her throat to make sure her own voice didn’t betray her feelings,

“Well, I thought if you had the time you could make a little potion for me. That is if you aren’t too busy…”

“Did you now?”

He cocked an eyebrow in mock curiosity,

She opened her mouth to respond, but a sudden and all too familiar pain struck her hard in the abdomen and she doubled over with a gasp.

All signs of amusement left his face as he practically jumped out of his chair and rushed to her side to stop her from falling. He held her in his arms and walked her over to his chair, leaving one hand on her shoulder in case she were to faint.

“I….I’m sorry”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, stay seated I’ve got to gather the ingredients.”

He turned to leave for the ingredients closet but stopped, removed his cloak, and placed it around her before setting off. She was surprised by how quickly he ‘d gotten to her side, and even more so by the warm cloak draped around her. It was black like all the other clothing he wore, and smelled like grassy herbs and cauldron smoke. Was this how Snape always smelled? It wasn’t bad really, if a name had to be placed to it she supposed it would be ‘comforting’, and it spoke volumes to what Snape really did with his free time. She could imagine him during his breaks standing over a steaming cauldron and concentrating hard on the contents. ‘Such a workaholic’ She thought with a slight smile.

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He came back with the ingredients bundled up in his arms and placed them down on a desk, Celes was still sitting where he’d placed her and seemed to be snuggling deeper into his cloak. ‘Wonderful, it’ll smell like that flowery perfume she wears for weeks…’ He thought to himself with a sneer of disgust.

He took out a pewter cauldron and began chopping and clipping the herbs and placing them into it in a specific order, he really didn’t need instructions on what to do and how long to let it simmer. By now in his life brewing potions was second nature to him, and only the really complex mixtures required him to bring out a book.

As he worked he continued to glance at Celes to make sure she was doing alright, he really didn’t understand why but he wanted to protect her. She didn’t mean anything to him, not really....but all the same he couldn’t stop worrying about the girl.

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She watched him while he worked, it was like watching an artist the way his hands moved about without hesitation chopping, deleafing, and stirring in a delicate but complex rhythm. He might have been a little socially inept, but in his element he was clearly a true Master.

She noticed his continued glances, he seemed very concerned. Snape? Concerned about her? What a strange evening it was turning out to be indeed! But she did get what she came for didn’t she? Her opinion about him had changed drastically. No matter what cruel or snarky things he said to her in the future, she’d force herself to remember this night.

The warmth of the cloak mixed with the throbbing pain she was feeling began to make her feel drowsy, and by the time the potion had finished brewing she was fast asleep in his chair.

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Celes awoke the next morning in a bed that wasn’t her own. The frame was made of dark ebony and the bedding consisted of simple blacks and greys. The bedding held the same comforting scent as the cloak had, and she knew at once she was in Snape’s bed.

She sat up slowly and looked around, the room was as dark as his office and had bookshelves lining every available wall filled with old dusty texts. The furniture layout was sparse and seemed uncoordinated, and many pieces were heavily scuffed and scratched.

Severus himself was fast asleep in an old armchair in the corner of the room, a blanket was draped over his torso and he was snoring softly. She watched him longer than she intended to, when he wasn’t sneering he really wasn’t too bad to look at. His skin was pale, but it really made a striking combination with his dark black hair and eyes. His hair didn’t really look greasy at all, people usually made snide remarks about it to make themselves feel better after attending his brutal classes as a way to salvage their hurt pride. In fact it looked quite soft, he looked quite soft and far more approachable than usual.

She found herself wanting to get closer to him, and the thought scared her so badly that she quickly took her eyes off him and left the room. He was wonderful when he slept, but she didn’t imagine he’d enjoy waking up to her running her hands through his hair, which was something she really wanted to do.

She made her way back to her personal quarters, showered, and did the rest of the morning routine before her first class of the day. The pain was still there, but she tried to ignore it and focus on the day ahead.

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That afternoon during break Professor Snape finally found her in the Staffroom, she’d left that morning without the potion he’d made her and he was anxious to deliver it. He still felt that urge to protect her, and it annoyed him to know that it was the same urge he’d had when Lily was still alive.

She was sitting in her usual spot by the window thumbing through a magazine with a cup of tea, Pomona was seated next to her glancing at the magazine with a large smile on her face that disappeared the moment she spotted Snape. Professor Sprout got up cautiously and left the Staffroom, obviously remembering the horrible argument that had taken place in it not very long ago.

He settled into the now vacant chair beside her and got a closer look at the magazine in her lap, it contained pictures of witches in various styles of Wedding Gowns and Robes. She took a sip of tea and turned the page, all her concentration seemed to be focused on the dresses because she didn’t notice when Pomona left or when Snape sat down.

He cleared his throat and she snapped her head up to face him, and then blushed before trying to hide the magazine in the seat beside her. He raised an eyebrow at her strange behavior, but decided to say nothing about it and do what he came here for.

He handed her the vial and made sure she drank it all before taking it back to refill later, then his expression grew concerned and she knew he was going to chide her.

“I want you to come to my office the moment you feel even a slight amount of pain, do you understand?”

His voice was commanding, but she found that she didn’t really mind it as long as he was showing some sort of concern for her. It really was nice that he seemed to care, she didn’t think he even had feelings let alone the capacity to care. He seemed to be waiting for her answer, so she leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on his cheek in response.

He blinked a few times in obvious confusion, and his pale face began to show signs of faint color. The whole scene was quite comical, it was as though he’d never been kissed before! She suppressed a giggle as she watched him hurry to his feet and rush out of the Staffroom. If he became so flustered at a simple peck on the cheek she wondered how he would react on their wedding night. At this thought she couldn’t hold back the giggles anymore and exploded into a fit of laughter.
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Quaffle and Chain