Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.



Severus watched this second year class file into his classroom for the second time in the school year. The girl behaved in true Slytherin fashion, dropping the scroll almost imperceptibly. The boy was too Gryffindor for his own good, instantly offering it back to the girl, asking if it were hers. Young Snape almost stamped her foot in frustration but instead gave the boy a withering look and tossed her curls as she continued to her desk. The boy unrolled the scroll an inch, looked at what was written there, and then rolled it back up and slid it into his bag.

Neville Longbottom couldn't understand what was happening when the scroll fell into his lap. He honestly thought she had dropped it by mistake but when she gave him that look he had to wonder. He knew exasperated females from dealing with his grandmother all his life. He unrolled the scroll enough to read the introduction. Dear Study Friend, it read, My father suggests that we not meet publicly as our Houses will not like it... Neville re-rolled the scroll and slid it away to read more privately later. He looked up and saw an expression that looked almost like amusement on the face of their teacher for a brief instant before it was replaced by the blank look Professor Snape usually wore at the start of class.

“Hey, what's that?” Seamus Finnegan had noticed the scroll.

Neville thought surprisingly quickly. “Oh, the essay we're working on for Herbology. I must have pulled it out along with the essay for this class.”

The Potions Master felt this was a good time to cut in. “Gentlemen, if you're quite finished your no doubt scintillating discussion, I will have your essays and we can begin our class.”

Neville actually did a passable job in Potions that day, for him. His potion was no worse looking than Weasley's, and he didn't explode anything, for once. Perhaps being distracted by wondering what was in the note was good for him. He didn't seem to notice Snape's scowls anywhere near as much as usual. Neville left class and went to lunch with Seamus and Dean Thomas, but finished early and found a place by the lake to read the note, giving himself half an hour before Herbology.

Dear Study Friend,

My father suggests that we not meet publicly as our Houses will not like it. As it is I have no real friends in my own House, but Daddy says it's exactly where I belong. We cannot meet in the library. If anyone discovered us working together, it could be disaster for both of us. Therefore, I'm writing this note and hope you will find a way to return it. If we have times that we really must meet, we can work something out.

I thought I should explain the questions you got wrong in Potions class last week first, and wonder if you could give me an explanation of a few things in Herbology. My questions are also enclosed.

The class notes she mentioned were below and then there was a closing line:

I hope this can work out. I think we both benefited from working together last spring.

Sincerely,
The other Study Friend

Neville glanced at his watch. He just had time to answer the note before Herbology and then it was just a matter of bumping into Margo to give it to her.

Dear SF,

I understand and agree. Gran says it's exactly where I should be but I don't seem to fit in my House, either. Thank you for the notes on the Potions. I will look them over and let you know if I have any questions. I have some questions about today's class, if that's all right, and here are notes on your Herbology questions.

I never thanked you for that spell that helps me keep track of Trevor. It's much easier to handle everything now that I can do that. I look forward to hearing from you again.

Sincerely,
The other SF

He spent most of Herbology class trying to figure out how to get his note to Margo. Hermione got most of the answers in class today, and Professor Sprout looked at him oddly. Neville took a deep breath as class ended. If this was going to be a secret, he was going to have to be more secretive than this. He finally figured it out. Slytherin's table in the Great Hall was closer to the door. If nothing else, he could be his usual bumbling self and drop half his books on her, leaving the scroll behind.

---

“I don't like this a bit, Emily.” Several nights later, Severus was pacing in the sitting room as Emily got home from St. Mungo's.

She took his hand and brought him to the couch, where she sat down with him and rested his head on her shoulder. “What did the dunderheads do today?”

He sighed. “Just one dunderhead, and the snake to whom you gave birth. They're passing notes.”

Emily became alert. “Is it bad?”

“Actually, they're extremely discrete. That Longbottom kid has more sense than I gave him credit for, and your daughter is very Slytherin about it.” He handed his wife a scroll. “I kept her after class today and confiscated it.”

Emily unrolled and read.

Dear SF,

I never understood why the porcupine quills made my cauldron melt last year, now I think I get it. Thank you.

It's nice to have a friend who understands things. Gran is OK, but she expects me to be Dad all over again. It doesn't help that my one dorm mate is so obviously everything Gran wishes I was. I'm sure that dorm mate of yours will leave you alone eventually. You're so obviously not interested in the boy she likes.

Sincerely,
The other SF

Emily read the intricate discussion of the Herbology questions Hope had asked with amazement. “He's got a good way of explaining things.”

“You know those are plants we covered in fifth year. Is she so bored in the dorm that she's reading that far ahead?” Severus sounded rattled.

“What's the real problem, Severus? If she's finally found a friend, I couldn't be happier.”

“But what if they date and get married, like we did?”

“Severus, we never actually dated, if you recall. We went from being friends to being lovers for a day and a month after that we were married. If we're going to be ridiculous enough to look that far ahead, then think that our grandchildren would be considered pure-blood. Your Slytherin associates would consider it a good match and suggest that we contact Augusta and start negotiating the contract.”

He snorted, “She's just a baby.”

“So why are you worrying about it when she's so young?”

“What if they're like us?”

“Would that be so awful?” Emily asked.

“What if she falls in love with him?”

“Then I hope she will have as much joy in it as I have had with you.”

He sat up and kissed her then. She responded eagerly and things were getting heated when the clock reminded them it was dinner time.

“Let's just eat here in our room,” Severus said.

Emily smiled and shook her head. “Oh, no, I want to catch a glimpse of my daughter tonight, and we have something to return to her, I think.” She held up the parchment.

---

Emily and Severus were in their bedroom much later, a tangle of arms and legs. She was running her hands through his hair and he was trailing his fingers aimlessly along her elbow. He brought up the subject again, in a round about way.

“When did you know you were in love with me?”

Emily opened her mouth and shut it and opened it again before answering. “It was the day of that wedding I skipped out of, the last time you made love to me that afternoon. I looked in your eyes and I just knew.”

“You were crying and you wouldn't tell me why.”

“I realized that it was probably the last time I would ever experience what we had shared that day and that I would never share it with anyone else.”

He remembered it, the sense of pleasure and satisfaction and loss. He had felt it, too. He pulled her head to him and kissed her hair. “I remember. I was so foolish.”

“It's over, now, and you had already left our daughter with me. It would have comforted me if I had known that.”

“I should have realized. You were the dearest creature in the world to me in that moment, but it was all too primal, too basic, to be the lofty emotion I had for Lily. At any rate, there's nothing to worry about, if you weren't in love until way after we were done with school...” Severus stopped talking when he saw his wife's smile. “What?”

“I'm sorry, but that was when I knew I loved you. I started loving you long before.”

“When?”

Emily shook her head. “I don't know. It might have even started when I first saw you in the library. There was something about the way you held your books.”

“How did I hold my books?”

“You still hold them the same way, and it wasn't something I understood until I was much older.” He loved the way she blushed at times. She was completely undressed in his arms and had been quite wanton just a few moments ago, but certain memories brought back the blushes of her girlhood. “You hold them like a lover. I finally put it together that I wanted to be held the way you hold your books.”

“I hope I've managed to satisfy you,” he said with an unconvincing scowl. “At any rate, it's so much the better, because Longbottom holds his books as if he's afraid of them.”

Emily smiled and said, “Well that's that, then.” She couldn't explain the point he had missed, and neither of them knew that when Neville Longbottom worked in the greenhouses, his fingers had the same delicate agility that had drawn the one time Emily Smith to the current Potions Master. They were too tired to think anymore or do anything but fall asleep, Emily clasped firmly within the hands and arms she had so long admired.

*******