Our Secret Marriage: First Year

Chapter 10: Flirting? Snape?

Once the holidays had started, Ron and Harry are obviously having too good a time to think much about Flamel so, I took matters into my own hands. Having the dormitory to myself and the common room was far emptier than usual, I end up spending most of my time there and in the library.

"Miss Hope," a cool, deep voice sounds as I bump into the fourth person today in the library, the librarian being the first three while making my way back to my table. "I did not expect you to stay for your holidays."

"Um..." Okay, the last person I want to see is standing before me." My guardians are going on a business trip. I didn't want to impose on them, sir."

"Complex Potions Of The Eighteenth Century? What are you doing with that book?" Professor Snape asks, clearly surprised at my choice of reading material. Okay, I might have strayed a little from my original topic.

"Um...yeah, I just found this interesting and took it off the shelves," I reply, closing the extremely thick book with a soft thump. "What are you doing here for, Professor?"

"This is a library. I'm here to read of course," he says, moving past me. Deciding to tail after him, I follow him around like a lost puppy.

Professor Snape either didn't mind me following him or he just found it amusing that I followed him around, he didn't say a thing to me until we came to the restricted are, where I stopped outside the grills.

"Stay," He murmurs, as he disappears into a row. Whimpering slightly, I begin to pace outside the grills. Suddenly, while I pace, I run into a tall black wall.

"Watch it," Professor Snape growls. "You could have hurt yourself." Smiling at him for some unknown reason, go up on my tiptoes and wrap my arms around his neck pulling his tall frame down to me.

"Miss Hope, this is highly inappropriate!" Professor Snape scolds, his arms sneaking around my small eleven-year-old frame.

"If it's inappropriate, why are you hugging me back?" I ask, smiling into the warmth his body radiates. " I guess this is something we both need then."

Pushing away from me, Professor Snape stands straight and I move away before he can say anything else, smiling sneakily to myself.

"Miss Hope, give it back," He calls out, I turn to see a small smile appearing on his lips. I put on my innocent face and look at him.

"Give what back, Professor?"

"My wand, you little brat," He growls, his lips moving into a playful smile. "Unless you want a detention for stealing a Professor's wand."

Smirking, I make my move. "I will give it back to you if you tell me why you want whatever that three-headed dog is guarding."

"What three-headed dog? What makes you want to know why I want whatever it is guarding? What have your the impression that it's guarding something? How do you know I want it if you don't even know what 'it' is?" He asks back at me. I freeze, damn it. He's right.

"Good point. Who is Nicolas Flamel?" I ask, looking into his onyx eyes, challenging him to answer me.

"I suggest reading this book to find out who he is," Professor Snape suggests, pulling an extremely thick book from a nearby shelf, passing it to me. " A little bit of light reading never hurt."

Grabbing his wand out of my fingers, he stalks off out of the library. Taking the book to my already book filled spot on the long tables, I read the titled ' Witches And Wizards Greatest Works'. I am barely into a third of the book when the bell for dinner rings, deciding to check the book out, I go over to Madam Pince.

Once in the Great Hall, I grab a chicken sandwich from the Slytherin table and disappear from the hall before anyone can call out to me, I make myself comfortable in the barely filled Slytherin common room and begin to read page by page of the 'suggested' book.

Augusta comes up to me after a short time in my reading, I look over to the wall clock at the end of the hall and find that it is already midnight and thus Chrismas Day. Picking her up, I give her a small hug, gather my things and make my way to the girl's dormitories.

"WAKE UP, VICTORIA! WAKE UP!" Emma's voice breaks into my sleep and I jolt awake hitting my head on her's.

"Ouch!" We say in unison, rubbing our sore heads.

"Merry Christmas," Emma murmurs as she sits on the edge of my bed.

"You, too," I murmur, still rubbing my head, only noticing a small pile of presents on the foot of my bed when I kick it. "Will you look at this? I've got some presents!"

"What did you expect, turnips?" Emma groans, turning to her pile which she had dragged from the second year girls room, is a lot bigger than mine. Picking up the top parcel. It was wrapped in thick brown paper and scrawled across it was To Victora, from Hagrid. Inside was a small and pretty beaded bag which I was ogling when we were picking up my school books.

The second one was from my aunt and uncle. A small music box with a little ballerina in the middle, singing a little tune as it spins. I cry a little as the song is my mum's wedding song. I put the music box away and look at the another package, a pretty lumpy one. Opening it, I find a bright red hand knitted sweater with a capital 'H' on the front. Puzzled, I read the attached note.

Dear Harry,

Happy Chrismas.

Yours,

Mr & Mrs Weasley

I give a little laugh and rewrap the present using a little charm I learnt yesterday while reading. Placing that aside, I move on to another present from Hermione, as usual, a new book, this one called 'Pride And Prejudice'. This left me with one present. Picking it up, I felt it very light. Unwrapping it, a fabric that felt like fluid and coloured a silvery grey went slithering to the floor where it lay in gleaming folds. Not knowing what it is, I look to the note that accompanied it.

Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is the time it was returned to you. Use it well.

A Very Merry Christmas to you.

Short, curt and no suggestion as to who sent the present.

"What's the matter?" Emma asks while opening another present. I scoop the fabric from the floor and stuff it under my blanket.

"Nothing," I say, feeling very strange. Who had sent the cloak? Had it really once belonged to my father? "I'm going to over to the Gryffindor's side for a while, I need to pass a wrongly sent gift to one of them."

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After the exchanging of sweaters, we go our separate ways, Harry went back to the Gryffindor common room and I went back to reading the 'suggested' book. Before I knew it, I missed not only breakfast but lunch too. Barely making it in time for dinner, I end up being the last one there but lucky for me there was still a wide spread of food for me to eat.

A hundred fat, roast turkeys; mountains of roast and boiled potatoes; platters of chipolatas; tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce -- and stacks of wizard crackers every few feet along the table.

The fantastic crackers at the table were the most to be commended, Harry pulled a wizard cracker with Fred, one of the two twins I saw him talking to on my first night, and it didn't just bang, it went off with a blast like a cannon and engulfed us all in a cloud of blue smoke, while from the inside exploded a rear admiral's hat and several live, white mice.

Up at the High Table, Professor Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizard's hat for a flowered bonnet and was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Flitwick had just read him. Flaming Christmas puddings followed the turkey. Percy, another of Ron's brothers, nearly broke his teeth on a silver sickle embedded in his slice.

Harry and I watched Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who, to my amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lopsided.

This was a Chrismas to remember for sure.