The Raven and the Snake

Extra - Birdie

Birdie Erikson had always been a loud-mouth and while she was great at gossip, she was bad at friends. Ariadne Black had changed that for her.

There had never been anyone in the world quite like Ariadne. She was calm and collected, never showing any fear. It didn't matter what was going on – be it childish rumors, an illicit tryst, or war on the horizon. Nothing scared Ariadne.

Birdie knew she had made a real mess of things when Ariadne bypassed the Slytherin table to sit with the Gryffindors in the second year. She hadn't meant to do it, but she'd said exactly what Ariadne had tried to warn her against, but at twelve years old, it had been hot gos.

Ariadne had been in love with Professor Snape, her head of house and potions teacher. Ariadne Black, the single most beautiful girl in all of Slytherin house who didn't bat an eye when even a senior student openly flirted, had a crush on Snape. S-N-A-P-E. Of all people, that was what she had chosen.

It wasn't so much that she had a crush on a teacher, which happened way more often than anyone cared to admit, but because it was that teacher. Nobody liked Snape. He was positively grizzly.

Birdie couldn't truthfully say there was anything wrong with his face. He wasn't the worst looking teacher at the school and certainly not the oldest, but he was old and not classically attractive.

Maybe had he held himself differently... Maybe if he'd smiled every once in awhile... Maybe if he just kept his damned mouth shut, Birdie might have thought him acceptable for her friend.

Severus Snape was a bully before anything else though. His black eyes were dead as a shark's and followed the students with a vindictiveness that really didn't suit a teacher. He had a big ego, painfully aware of his own intelligence and lording it over the children he was meant to be teaching.

When a student mucked up – which was often as students were prone to do, he didn't react like a normal human being. He wasn't like the mild-mannered Flitwick who rarely got steamed over anything or even the more ornery McGonagall who hated when a student drifted off in her class. Snape approached everything with the enthusiasm of a traffic warden that had just spotted a violation after being told off himself.

Yet, Ariadne for reasons entirely her own, overlooked his demeanor and saw him as something appealing. Gag.

Without even properly thinking it through, Birdie had spilled the beans. Ariadne had taken it about as well as might have been expected. It was her secret that she clearly hadn't intended to share. She had grabbed Birdie's arm and insisted that Birdie had seen wrong when it was more than obvious by her face and wandering eyes that she fancied him.

Birdie knew that she couldn't expect Ariadne to ever speak to her again. Especially not after the merciless teasing it had gotten Ariadne. As a beauty that demanded attention from her peers, Ariadne wasn't particularly well-liked by other females even despite it being made apparent that she held no interest in any of the boys they might have competed for.

Birdie herself, knew that if Ariadne ever got over her crush and moved on to someone more achievable, it could be bad for her. Achievable for Ariadne meant literally anyone else. Any number of boys would have dumped their steady girlfriends for Ariadne in a heartbeat had she shown the slightest bit of interest, but even so, Birdie couldn't hate her for it.

Ariadne was too kind. She was too smart and kind for her own good. She had befriended the twin Weasley boys right away and was a fiercely loyal friend them. Whenever they shared a class together, Birdie knew that if she wanted to sit by Ariadne, she would have to make peace with sitting with the twins. No matter how obnoxious.