Severus and Lily: The Snape Family

Chapter 46 - Parting Gifts

Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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Zinnia stood on the stone walkway that covered the area immediately outside of Hogwarts' entrance, next to the boy from Hufflepuff who illustrated her comic books.

On that last afternoon before summer break of her third year, Zinnia had asked the Hufflepuff boy to draw something a bit different for her.

She scowled down at the page while he intricately sketched the front face of the castle, stone by skillfully detailed stone.

"Make sure you get that crack over on the right there." Zinnia frowned as she pointed to one chipped rock by the front door.

The Hufflepuff boy nodded as he glanced up briefly before he continued his work.

Zinnia frowned an hour later as he handed her the finished page, which showed a near perfect rendering of the castle's face.

"Thanks." She murmured.

The Hufflepuff boy nodded before he walked away while an ominous storm rolled in from the distance.

As dangerous, black clouds surrounded Hogwarts, Zinnia kept her frown while she placed the drawing safely in a folder, next to many others that contained more views of the castle, illustrations of broomsticks, uniforms, and many, many intricate diagrams.

Heavy, thick rain threatened to pour from the sky.

Thunder rumbled in the seconds that followed Zinnia's exit from the lonely, stone entranceway.

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That same evening after dinner, Scorpius purposely left the Great Hall a few minutes early to meet Zinnia in the hidden confines of the stone Owlery at her request.

He had no idea what she wanted to speak to him about.

What could have been such a secret that it couldn't have been discussed at dinner?

Regardless of the strangeness of Zinnia's request, Scorpius hadn't protested their rendezvous.

A moment spent in private with his darling was never a moment wasted.

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The haughty sarcasm had left Zinnia's face when she met Scorpius there on the scraggly, stone steps of the Owlery in the fading light of day.

"It's nearly nightfall." Scorpius said with a nervous laugh as she came to stand in front of him.

"Yes, it is." Zinnia solemnly nodded.

Scorpius's happy smile slowly faded as he watched her reach into her bag and pull out the folder that held all of the drawings and charts she had collected.

"What's all this?" Scorpius asked as she handed the stuffed folder to him, "Classes are over........we don't have any work."

"No, but I have a tremendous task ahead of me." Zinnia explained with a resolute pout, "I'm giving these to you so that you can deliver them to the right person....Doesn't your Dad have connections with muggles all over the world?"

"Well, not muggles.....not really." Scorpius shrugged.

Zinnia's lips slipped into a frown until Scorpius shrugged and reassured her, "But.....But my Father knows lots of wizards who have close relationships with muggles everywhere! I'm sure that he could speak to one of them about......um.....What's this about exactly?"