Salvation | Severus Snape

Chapter 22 - Wishing

The ninth of January marked a certain birthday that Katherine had been looking forward to. She made sure Severus knew to visit her on that day without revealing that she knew its special meaning. The moment the door was opened that morning, he was met with a face-full of golden confetti raining down in his hair and clothes. Katherine stood right in front of him, beaming.

"What is the meaning of this?" he grumbled, waving his wand and cleaning himself up, though the sight of her laughing made it hard to resist a smirk.

"Happy birthday, Severus!" she exclaimed. She quickly went back to sit in her bed as he walked over.

"How did you know?" asked Severus, surprised. Nobody had ever remembered before and now he could feel the emotions inside him bubbling to the surface.

"I have my sources," she said with a cheeky smile before reaching over to her table. "Since I haven't gotten a chance to get you anything — you know, being in bed and all... I made this instead."

He raised his eyebrows when he saw what was in her hands. It was a pot plant, except all the leaves and flowers of the plant were folded intricately from green and yellow paper, along with more crumpled and torn tissue paper for the soil.

"I actually charmed it. See here." Katherine touched the wand to the pot and whispered, "Lumos."

The flowers lit up, glowing with tiny lights that made them appear golden. "Honestly, it's not much, but... I thought they would be a nice representation of hope and renewal, you know?"

Severus took it into his hands, his stomach doing a flip when their hands brushed one another. "Thank you, I rather like it." He ran his finger along the edge of the flowers, admiring the way she had folded them.

She smiled. "If you open up the leaves, there are-" Katherine stopped when she realised he had tried to open one the moment she started speaking. She snatched his hand, a pink tinge forming on her cheeks. "W-Wait, don't do it yet! You'll see when you open them later, okay? Promise me you'll at least wait until the end of the school year to do it..."

He frowned and looked at her suspiciously, but nodded and adhered to her request.

"Oh and I wish I could've baked you a cake, but-"

"Since you are unable to, I have instead," he replied, causing her eyes to widen.

"You have? I thought you hated cakes."

He glared at her. "Well you love them, and I thought I might as well try." She had way too much of an influence on him nowadays.

With a wave of his wand, a plate appeared on the table, holding a small red velvet cake, iced with white frosting. He cut it in half and conjured another plate to serve one of the slices, handing it to Katherine. She grinned in delight at the smooth and soft texture, thanking Severus' great baking skills. He gazed at her, an immense feeling of adoration settling into his heart. There were several times where he would've given anything to stay in that moment forever, and this was one of them. He had been through countless birthdays, wallowing in his own sorrow, thinking of how he would always be alone... but this time, he wasn't. Knowing that there was someone here who cared about him, who wanted to celebrate with him, it struck him with such a warm feeling.

Her hazel eyes flickered towards him and he dropped his smile, but it was too late. That was the first time she had seen such a smile on his lips, and the sight made her heart leap in pure joy. "You look so much more handsome when you smile," remarked Katherine, and she was astonished when she witnessed a tiny blush on his face for the first time.

Severus knew he could not deny the fact that he was irrevocably in love with her. Everything she did affected him in such a deep way that he couldn't even comprehend himself, and he could never seem to get her out of his mind, whether it was her memories or her words. The problem was how he could make sure that she would never discover it.