Loved By You. (A Severus Snape Love Story)

Chapter Thirty-Two: Dinner

Here's just a little chapter to try and balance out some of the big ones. -As394

I went about my classes as normal, I sat through potions without saying a word and I done everything Snape asked of me in my apprenticeship classes, but not once did I speak to him off my own accord. I stayed quite at the back of the class, watching as he gave the students scrolls of notes to copy out as he dictated everything to them, just as he had done with my class the period before. When the bell tolled, announcing the end of class, I didn't wait behind as I usually would have but instead left with the class, not bothering to wonder why Snape had called on Lucy.
"Miss Weatherfield, wait behind, I want to talk to you." He announced.
I kept myself busy on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday by staying around Harry and the rest of the gang in the hopes to take my mind off of Snape. I knew I couldn't just forget about him straight away, no matter how brief our 'relationship' was or how many time we fought or how little time we actually spent with each other. Since the moment I met Severus I knew there was something about him and I wasn't ready to let go just yet, but I refused to be made a fool of by him or the other Death Eaters. Our relationship was never real and I had to accept that.
*
On Tuesday as I sat down to my dinner I was taken aback as I was tapped on the shoulder by an unfamiliar first year Ravenclaw girl.
"I'm supposed to give you this." She told me confidently as she handed me a small sealed envelope.
"Oh." I gasped, unsure of how to react. "Who's it from?" I questioned, unsure.
"I don't know." She shrugged. "Really it was my friend who was supposed to give you it but she's sick, and it was crucial that you got it today, she wouldn't tell me who its from, she says it's better that you don't know."
"Oh okay, thank you." I called after her as she bounced away without warning.
I turned back to my table, breaking the seal of the envelope and I took out the note. It contained very few words, instructions more like, but I felt the urge to obey them.
7pm. The Hogs Head. Save room for food.
It wasn't much to go off on and it didn't even say who it was from, but as I said, it intrigued me and I planned to do exactly as it said.
Clearly, who ever wrote this message wanted to remain anonymous, so why send a traceable trail of little girls, wouldn't an owl have been easier? I knew I was to curious for my own good and one day it would definitely get me in trouble, I just hoped it wasn't today.
*
The first snow of winter fell today, and the temperature was dropping drastically by the hour. It was only two weeks to Christmas after all.
Just as the note had asked I was on my way to the Hogs Head at 7:00, fighting through the wind and snow to get there.
I had never been in the Hogs Head before but I can remember Hermione telling that they held the first Dumbledore's Army meeting there because it was a quite place to talk, and she wasn't wrong. When I finally found the pub, I entered, shaking the snow from my freshly curled hair and shivering from the sudden burst of heat. I looked around to see no one except one barman waiting patiently by the door.
"He's through there." He said with a toothy grin, gesturing to the open door which led onto another room. I returned his smile politely, getting a little scared at how inconspicuous the whole situation remained. Slowly I made my way across the completely empty pub, my heels the only think making sound as they clicked against the hard wooden floor boards. The door creaked as it opened, furthering the intense feeling of dread that had begun to build in the pit of my stomach.
I gasped as I looked around the room which before had presumably been dark, dank and dusty. It was now filled with light and warmth and beauty. Fairy lights had been hung from every wall, candles sat on every surface, rose petals had been scattered across the floor and a single fully set table stood alone in the middle of the room. Two places had been set before two chairs that had been improved with cushions, a table cloth had been draped over the table before also receiving its own layer of rose petals and cluster of candles. And the finishing touch a single rose was placed in a bottle in the middle of the table.
At first I had been so transfixed by the scene before me that I had failed to notice who was responsible for the whole thing. He stood standing on the opposite side of the room, dressed head to toe in formal attire, a suit, a tie, a dinner jacket and a pair of oxford shoes, everything completely black except for the bouquet of roses in held in his hands.
"Severus." I gasped again. "What are you doing here?" Was not the words I had expected to come out of my mouth, and apparently neither had he.
"Were you expecting someone else?" He questioned, clearly angry and hurt at my comment.
"No. No of course not." I insisted, trying to explain myself. "What I mean is; what is all of this?"
"I wanted to start again, right from the beginning. You said that we never even went out on a date. Well... this is it. Our very first one." He confessed.
"It's beautiful." I cried. "But I thought..."
"I know what you thought. But you were wrong. I needed time to plan all of this, didn't I? I had to make it right."
"Oh Severus." I sobbed, my hand flying to my mouth, emotion getting the better of me.
"Well." He said approaching me, and handing me the flowers. "Take a seat."
I thanked him for the flowers, commenting on their beauty. I took off my coat, the fur collar now damp as the snow had melted, and I unwrapped my knitted scarf from around my neck, looking for a place to put everything. Just in time the barman appeared in the doorway, offering to take my things for me.
"Can I take your coat, ma'am." I nodded and handed him my coat and scarf. "And the flowers? I will put them in water."
"Thank you." I smiled, giving them over, then I turned to Severus. "I wish I'd have known and I would have tried to make an effort." I said, looking down regrettably at my jeans as he helped me into my seat.
"You look stunning." He promised, joining me at the table.
Seconds later the barman, now waiter, appeared at the end of the table to take our order, he promised to cook me anything I wanted and offered us a range of his finest alcohol, which admittedly wasn't too fine.
"Just a Butterbeer for me." Severus requested, catching me off guard.
"What no FireWhiskey?" I asked.
"No. Not tonight." He replied simply, and with a nod the waiter was gone again.
"I just can't believe all of this." I admired in awe. "How did you even think of this?"
"It wasn't my first choice. Really I had the perfect date planned out for us but I could never do it. It's in the public eye and sadly the rules of relationship keep us locked up inside, where no one can see."
"Tell me about it. I want to know what could possibly have been better than this. What does Severus Snape think is the perfect date?" I wondered aloud.
"It would be by the castle, in your favourite spot underneath the tree, by the lake. It'd have to be a sunny day of course, and we'd both sit down to a picnic." He began.
"Severus Snape enjoying a picnic, who'd have thought." I laughed, but let him continue the story.
"I'd pack all of your favourite foods in the little wicker basket and we'd lie together in the sun, and then I'd watch you as you drew or ran down to the water, stripping off to go swimming like the crazy woman you are. Then you'd come back to me freezing from the cold and I'd wrap you up and we'd go back to my chambers and we'd read together, heating up by the fire."
"It sounds perfect." I smiled, lost in the image he'd created in my head, completely stunned by the amount of thought that he'd put into this little scenario.
I felt Severus about to speak again but was sadly interrupted by the waiter as he brought us our drinks, informing us that dinner would not be long.
We chatted for a while longer about trivial things, like silly things his students had done that day to annoy him, or whether or not he thought Fred and George was planning another prank to spring on him, or how I was coping with my classes, extra curriculums and my apprenticeship all at the same time, it was clear neither of us wanted to ask the big questions. For the moment we were just happy being together and not having to worry about anything else.
Severus, looked at me, still smiling from the bad joke I had recycled from the twins. He took a swig of his Butterbeer and as he placed the tankard back down on the table I couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"What?" He asked, a worried and quizzical look over taking his face.
"You have a moustache." I informed him, gesturing to the white curved that the foam had created on his upper lip. His face flushed a little red, but instantly he made a start to wipe it off. "You missed a bit. Here. Let me." I ordered, still chuckling to myself. I took up and made my way to the other side of the table, leaning down in order to wipe away his foam moustache. As I took my thumb to wipe away the few bubbles he had missed, I felt his cold hand find the small area of exposed skin on my waist, created by the gap where my jeans didn't quite meet my jumper. Instantly I was pulled down towards him and our lips crashed together, before I even had a chance to comprehend what as going on his tongue had found its way into my mouth. Without a second thought I pushed myself away from him, knowing this was not how I wanted this to go.
"What's wrong?" Snape asked, noticing the look of horror on my face.
"Look Severus, I'm sorry." I apologised, shaking my head as I regained my seat. "I just think that if we're doing this we should do it properly. You said you wanted to start again. From the very start. And it's just, I've been told that well, ladies shouldn't kiss on the first date, it send the wrong message."
"Who told you that." He scoffed. "Was it that know-it-all Granger?"
"No it wasn't Hermione actually, it was Ginny. And she has a point." I defended. "I don't want things to turn out the way they did before. I want it to work out this time."
"As do I." He agreed.
"Good." I beamed.
After chatting a bit more and both receiving and eating our dinner, Severus decided it was time for us to talk about something a bit more serious again.
"Aria, about what I said the other day, about me wanting to protect from the Death Eaters so they couldn't hurt you, it's not enough." He confessed. "Having to wait for them to make a move before I can say something to them isn't good enough, they need to know from the beginning that touching you is unacceptable. And they won't listen to me just because your my student. I'm Voldemort's most loyal servant, if they knew we were together they wouldn't dare cross me. They need to know about us. I want them to know about us."
There was nothing I could say to this but smile. I was relieved that finally someone would acknowledge our relationship, it wasn't a secret anymore. If people knew about us, this made it real. Of course, we still had to hide our relationship from my friends and my grandfather, and the entire school, but none of that mattered as long as we were together.
"Thank you Severus, it means a lot to me." I confided, reaching over the table to take his hand in mine.