Dark Wizard Collector: A Hogwarts Fanfiction

Chapter 43

The week was coming to a close and Avenger was recovering quickly. Students were already hastening to the coaches that would bring them to the Hogwarts Express and then their homes. Avenger hissed every time a particularly rowdy bunch screamed past the open door of my office. "BYE MISS ZERIA!" A crowd of Ravenclaws shouted as they dragged their suitcases with them.

Instantly, I rushed to the frame of my door. "Quirrell, use the locomotor charm and don't scratch the stone floors with your trunks." I smiled at the group and they laughed like this was common sense. A little, brown haired, Ravenclaw girl grinned and flicked her pine wand to levitate and move her own trunk. With her other arm she lifted her tiny, white cat and smiled at me.

"Thank you, Miss Zeria! Enjoy your Christmas." A slight trace of gravel in her voice worried me.

"Wait..." I called to her and ran back to find a potion in the shelves of glass bottles. "Here, take this, it helps with sore throats and common colds." I handed her a small red bottle and her hazel eyes lit up.

"Gee, you're a real ace, Miss Zeria."

"You're welcome, Julia."

"Miss Zeria, could I ask you a question?" Julia asked and I nodded. "Why aren't you married yet? You would be a wonderful mother."

My heart leapt into my throat and the blue of my eyes brightened with shock. "I'm afraid you are wrong, Julia. But thank you for thinking kindly of me. Go on, you don't want to miss the train."

The girl's round face looked puzzled, but she hurried off with her cat and trunk after her fellow Ravenclaws.

"It's a shame how fast they grow up." Minerva's voice from behind caused me to jump. I turned around from watching the band of blue scurry down the hall to see Professor McGonagall standing near my door.

"Yes," I nodded in agreement, "they do grow up very quickly. By the by, are you doing anything special for Christmas?"

"I was about to ask you the very same thing." She replied.

"Oh, well... I am going abroad to visit some friends."

"How lovely, where?"

"America; I have some friends in New Orleans."

"Oh, I would have thought Salem when you said America. I know there is a small witch school that has survived through a great oppression Hogwarts has luckily never experienced." Minerva folded her hands and followed me into my office. "I see your owl has been recovering well. That's horrible he was injured in his travels."

A sigh escaped me as I looked at Avenger who slept in my arm chair. "It is horrible. My poor s— On reflecting, I immediately caught myself from speaking further.

"Well, I will let you pack; Happy Christmas, Maera." Minerva gave me a small hug.

"Merry Christmas, my friend." The thin frame of the woman was a comforting to me. "I will write to you."

"Thank you, I would love that." She finished and left.

The dinner bells soon chimed and I looked up from the trunk I neatly packed. Severus was standing in the doorway of my office. "Why hello there; I thought you had left to return home." I straightened up and went to check on Avenger, who was sleeping soundly. Severus rolled his eyes at me. "Oh, I see."

"Well, I don't see. Why are you leaving? I thought you would be staying here...with me." Severus walked over to the black trunk on the floor. "I'm going to miss you."

"I will miss you too, Severus. But I promised some friends that I would visit them."

"Just friends?"

"HA! You cheeky child. What is it to you?"

"Being just friends is always the worst. Oh, I have a letter I was meant to give you." Severus's words were like icicles until he switched subjects. The letter I took from his thin hands was from Lucius and it told me that Saturday was a good day to arrive. My blue gaze looked at the packed trunk on the floor and I sighed.

"Does Lucius think you are some sort of owl? Better have him deliver his own letters next time, Severus. You don't want people like him feeling comfortable to push you around." I replied, and folded the note back up. A tension began to grow in the small room like sponge absorbing water. "Is there something the matter, Mr. Snape?" I queried with a jesting smile and the boy blushed. "Ah," I paused, "well, we should go down for dinner, yes?" My little friend nodded and followed me from the office. After the door shut with a soft click, Severus took my hand carefully and kept his eyes trained forward. A smile appeared on my lips and I gave his hand a squeeze as we walked through the empty corridors to the Great Hall.