Recovered Ivory [1]

Six

"Lupin gave you this?" Severus asked as he looked at the album in front of him. He was staring at the pictures, almost completely ignoring me. 

"Yeah," I said, smiling at him. I could see in his face that he was fascinated with all the pictures. I had been through the album briefly because I hadn't had any time alone since I opened it with Hermione. Ron had been heckling me all day because I hadn't waited with shaking nerves for Harry to wake up. Fred and George had been too busy with the quidditch after game party in the common room to care about me, but Hermione had been at my side all day. "I haven't had a chance to look too closely at it yet."

"How did he get these pictures?"

"I don't know, I haven't had a chance to thank him yet," I answered, shrugging my shoulders. I was in a huge sweater and shorts, my usual down time clothing except for dresses. 

"He has pictures in here he could have only gotten from Gwen," he murmured, in his own thoughts. 

"They were best friends, he could have easily gotten the pictures from her," I said, smiling at him. "I thought you'd like to see this as much as I would."

"Do you mind if I borrow this?" Severus asked.

"I haven't had a chance to look at it too closely yet," I admitted, suddenly protective of is. "I could give it to you on Friday."

"I'd like that," he said, offering me a warm smile. He flipped the page and let out a hearty chuckle. "Here is a picture of you stumbling as Gwen and I were watching you. You were just starting to figure out how to walk."

The picture was of Severus and Mom sitting side by side while watching me as I stumbled around. They were both laughing as I stumbled around. It was amazing to see the two of them together, actually smiling. They were twins, with so much having happened to separate them. But I brought them back together. 

"Who took the picture?" 

"Don't worry about that," he sighed, shaking his head. He closed the album and pushed it towards me. "Now, what else did you get?"

"Fred got my a locket," I said, opening it for him to see. "Draco got me a cute hat, Cedric made me this bracelet." I held it out to him. "It's the three colors of the houses. Maroon for me, yellow for him, and green for Draco. Minerva got me chocolate frogs. Narcissa got me a dress for the Malfoy Christmas Ball. Hermione got me the most beautiful quill in the world. Lupin got me that." I bit my lip, deciding not to tell him about the ring, which was hidden in my side table. 

"Sounds great," he said. "How was your day?"

"It wasn't the best in the world, but I wasn't expecting anything else," I admitted, shrugging. "With Harry's accident, it all went to hell. It's always Harry, Harry, Harry."

"It always seems like your birthday is awful," he mused, shaking his head. 

"I guess I'm used to it," I sighed, standing up. "I'm going to head to bed, or maybe the library to do some homework."

"It's Saturday night, go have some fun," he protested, but I just gave him a half hearted smile. 

"I'm not that kind of girl," I laughed, grabbing my bag and leaving his rooms. 

I was walking towards the library when I heard footstep behind me. I slowed and glanced around, trying to catch someone in the shadows. I couldn't see anyone so I just shrugged and continued on my way to the library. As I continued to walk, I heard the footsteps again. I picked up my pace, hoping to get to the library before whoever was chasing me got to me. 

"Hey!" The shout came from a shrill voice, causing me to jump and spin around. Stalking towards me was Pansy Parkinson, and she was followed by a few other Slytherin girls, but I didn't know their names off the top of my head. They weren't too happy to see me, that was for sure.