Serendipity [Book 1]

Paradoxical Marriage.

Severus scowled as his mind once again returned to Ariella Cross. Hearing her voice again caused a shiver of despise to run down his spine. Didn't she know how she affected him? Was she having a laugh at him behind his back? He scowled before smirking. He decided he'd make her life at Hogwarts hell and force her to leave before she got comfortable. A knock on his classroom door distracted him as Gilderoy Lockhart simply walked in as if he owned the place.

"How may I help you?" Snape growled as Lockhart smiled at him.

"Good afternoon colleague! I was wondering if you might be able to tell me where that lovely creature disappeared off to. It seems she's been playing a hide and seek game with me!" Lockhart remarked giddily as Severus glared at him.

"No, I haven't seen her since I last told you where she was." Severus answered coldly.

"Pity, well I must be off then. On with the hunt!" Severus growled as Lockhart left him alone. If he had known setting the blonde man onto Ariella would cause him this much grief, he'd rather have left the man wondering where she'd gotten off to.

Ariella sighed when she hid in her new classroom. Her eyes slid over the mountain of books on Binns' desk and her shoulders drooped. History of Magic was such a dull subject, she thought dejectedly before smiling. At least while Professor Binns had been teaching it.

"Ariella." She turned swiftly as McGonagall quirked an eyebrow.

"Oh, Minerva, it's you." She let out a sigh of relief.

"Who did you think it was?"

"Lockhart. He's been chasing me since breakfast." Ariella answered with a groan as McGonagall chuckled.

"I see. According to Severus, he's been tormenting him as well, asking for your whereabouts and such."

"Good. It'll teach him not to tell that prick where I am." Ariella hissed as Minerva sighed.

"How long has it been, dear?"

"17 years, 3 months, and 21 days." Ariella replied simply as Minerva stared at her.

"And the scars?"

"Not gone. Must we talk about this?" Ariella asked, her eyes dark and menacing. Minerva sighed and shook her head.

"No, we don't. I came to inform you that the students have arrived at the train station, so you'd best make your way to the staff table." She replied before leaving Ariella alone again. Ariella sighed, her fingers flitting across her stomach briefly before she swept from the classroom with ease. Once in the Great Hall, she groaned. The only empty seats were by the two men she hated.

"Which is the lesser of two evils?" She mumbled as she judged her choices. Lockhart waved dramatically at her. Severus merely ignored her. Against her better judgment, the Slytherin was the lesser of two evils at that point and time. Severus looked up in shock as Ariella pulled out the chair next to him. Lockhart looked downtrodden by her decision but let it pass.

"Don't look at me like that." She hissed as she reached for her goblet.

"Why not the chair by your lover?" Severus smirked when she winced.

"The day Gilderoy Lockhart becomes my lover is the day I forgive you and those Slytherins for what you did." She growled, her knuckles white around the cup. Severus' eyes widened a fraction before narrowing instantly.

"I had nothing to do with..."

"I saw you, Snape." She hissed before the two large doors to the Great Hall opened and students began to pour in, walking to their house tables. Soon after the already sorted older students were seated, McGonagall led the fidgeting, frightened first years in; their eyes darted around the Great Hall in wonder. Ariella let a small smile slip. She remembered when she first walked in. She had stood behind Sirius Black, terrified of the idea that the sorting hat was going to put her in either Hufflepuff or Slytherin. She had fidgeted for nothing. The sorting hat had barely been placed on her head before it had screamed Gryffindor. Ariella was barely aware of Snape's sweeping eyes. Dumbledore had stood and the entire hall had become silent.