Serendipity [Book 1]

A Galleon For Your Thoughts....

Just so you know, this chapter has nothing to do with the Chamber of Secrets timeline. I think I've already screwed that up, so I'm sorry. Really I am. I'm just going to butcher it since it's been like 2 years since I've actually read it. Anyways, Enjoy!

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Severus Snape inwardly groaned as his faux spouse strutted into the teacher's lounge with a thoughtful smile on her face. Her amethyst eyes, he noted, were trained on the text of the book she held in her hands. She easily sat on the other side of the room, engrossed in her reading. Snape wouldn't have cared, but he had gotten used to Ariella Cross simply being near him and he felt empty without her. He mentally banged his head against a wall. He shouldn't feel anything for his (did he just call her his?) fake wife, yet he did. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone.

"Ella?" Both Snape and Ariella looked up as Filius Flitwick approached the blonde. She smiled at her colleague and Severus felt a flutter in his gut.

"Yes?" She responded easily. Severus noted Ariella had a way with people, especially men. Plus she always appeared so cheerful.

"I have a favor to ask of you, my dear." Filius replied cheerfully. Ariella nodded as she easily closed the book she'd been reading.

"Ask away, professor." She encouraged as she brightened her smile.

"Well I was wondering if you would help me with the choir. I remember you had such a passion and..." Filius didn't continue as Ariella nodded her head yes.

"Yes, I'd love to." She answered quickly. Filius too smiled before he left the blonde back to her reading. Ariella sighed before looked up and saw Severus staring at her. She blushed before bringing her book back into her lap and opening to her abandoned place. Snape frowned when he saw her quickly avoid his glance. Again while it shouldn't bother him, it did immensely. He felt the urge to stand up, march over to her and take her into his arms. He growled lowly at the thought. Suddenly before he knew it, his urge turned into a fantasy. Ariella went from being fully dressed to downright naked and he groaned aloud at the image his imagination produced.

"Professor Cross!" Gilderoy Lockhart easily killed Snape's fantasy as he quickly climbed to his feet.

"Professor Lockhart." Ariella responded icily as she kept her flashing eyes glued to the page of her book.

"I simply wanted to convey my deepest apologies for exposing you to that horrendous accident that befell Mr. Potter."

"Ah, so you're leaving then?" Ariella replied hopefully as she finally managed to look up. Her eyes widened when she saw Severus towering over Lockhart, looking absolutely livid.

"Lockhart, leave." Severus sneered as the blonde man jumped before shuffling quickly toward the door. He tripped on his robes before he reached the doorway but managed to recompose himself enough to slip from the room. Ariella sighed as she shut her book. She climbed to her feet and smirked at the still seething Potions Master.

"Thanks, Severus." She remarked before walking out of the room, leaving Severus confused, abashed, and angry.

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Did he have to look so mysterious? Ariella thought furiously as she stomped away from the teacher's lounge. Why she was stomping was just as mysterious as her fraud of a husband. Maybe it was Lockhart. Her teeth clenched at the thought of the idiot. Didn't the blonde know how close he came to being hippogriff food? Obviously not.

"Ella? Is there something bothering you?" Ariella gasped when she realized where she had ended up in her heated internal discussion. She blushed before shaking her head.

"Ah, no Minerva. I was just thinking and I didn't pay attention to where I was going." She explained with a simple smile. The older woman nodded before turning back to the homework she was grading.

"How is Mr. Potter?" She asked as Ariella groaned.

"Oh my god. I completely forgot Harry gets out of the hospital today!" She cursed to herself before turning to leave the room.

"Tell him congratulations for me." Ariella nodded before rushing out of the classroom. Ariella's robes billowed behind her as she practically ran to the hospital wing.

"He's left already, Cross." Ariella froze and lost her footing when she heard a cold voice behind her. As she prepared herself for the impact of the fall, she felt surprise when her landing never came. Warmth and strength kept her from the iciness of the hard steps and she knew she'd regret opening her eyes. Severus Snape's onyx eyes met her and she felt her breath leave her.

"Severus..." She breathed. Her eyes noticed his stringy hair and her mind wondered if they were soft or oily like she had always thought. She fought the urge to run her fingers through his hair just to find out the answer. Before Ariella realized it, her mind had flitted through several fantasies, all of them included a very naked Severus Snape. A blush crept across her cheeks as she quickly regained her senses and separated from the Potions Master.

"Ah, thanks again." She mumbled as she pushed her mussed curls away from her face to distract her hands. Merlin knows she didn't need to start feeling something for her (oh Merlin's Beard, she owned Snape?) Slytherin spouse.

"Cross," And his seductive purring did strange things to her without even meaning to. She'd hate to see what would happen if he ever actually tried to seduce her. (Not that she wanted him to.)

"Did you say Harry's already left the hospital wing?" She interrupted and Snape nodded. She smiled easily, hiding her inner turmoil.

"Well thanks Snape for the rescue and the information. I'll uh see you later."

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Merlin, the reality was much better than his imagination could ever create. When she had sighed his name, he felt all of his insecurities leave him and all he felt was her. Of course their moment (Oh, not again) was brief as she seemed intent on fleeing his presence. He knew she would be. Nothing would change the fact that he had on multiple occasions told her he hated her. Plus there was that horrible evening in their sixth year that still lingered in both of their memories. It kept her from trusting him and kept him from letting her.

"Ariella," Her name had escaped his lips before his mind realized it. Ariella paused and turned to look at him over her slender shoulder.

"Severus." She responded softly. Snape couldn't stop his feet from pulling him closer to her. She looked confused when he stopped in front of her.

"You looked conflicted. A galleon for your thoughts." She mumbled as she brought her book to her chest.

"Isn't the saying ' a knut for your thoughts'?" He asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Yeah, but your too mysterious to simply accept a knut, so I offer a galleon." She explained as Snape smirked.

"I'd pay the knut for your thoughts, Cross."

"My thoughts are much more expensive." Severus scoffed. He didn't need her to think he actually wanted to know what she thought. Ariella sighed, relieved he had blown her off. Both of them knew they couldn't afford to know what the other was thinking.