MERLIN | Severus Snape

14| Visit

The events of Christmas evening went completely forgotten by Caledonia Merlin, she did not even remember that Severus Snape was there and he purposely did not remind her. Things continued the exact same for them from there on out, occasional marking meetings and conversations, teasing so close to flirting. But things were different for Severus because he now had a whole lot more to consider. Why did she ask those questions? Did she want him to love her? He was more confused than ever before but was too afraid to ask the questions.

It was not until one particularly slow day in early January, did anything change for anybody in the castle. Snape was sat calmly in the Great Hall when her giggle caught his attention. Glancing up, he found her walking along the central aisle with a man on her arm. He was tall where she was short but his tanned skin, doe eyes and dark curls were all the same. This must have been Tobias Merlin. At the foot of the steps, they were greeted by Albus Dumbledore who shook the man's hand eagerly.

"Please, meet our staff" the headmaster gestured behind him, beckoning the potion master over and Snape resisted an eye roll as he joined them, Dumbledore forcing the potion master forward to shake the Merlin mans hand. Tobias stared intently at the man's face, assessing every single detail just as Caledonia often did and Severus instantly felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny, glancing sideways at the woman who beamed in return. "Severus Snape."

"It's a pleasure. Tobias Merlin" the man nodded, confirming what the potion man already knew. An uncomfortable silence instantly fell, every one slightly unsure as to why Dumbledore had introduced them but Tobias and Albus seemed to have a silent exchange, smiling.

"Right, well, now this is over. I am going to take Toby here for a walk around the grounds. See you all later." she frowned at them and began to drag her brother along.

"It was nice to meet you all" he called over his shoulder politely but he had a mischievous glint to his eyes, just like his sister. When Tobias and Caledonia had exited through the front door of Hogwarts School, he finally decided to fill her in on the purpose of the visit. She knew it wasn't purely social. "Sister" he whistled lowly, dragging her down the path hastily to get away from the ears of students and teachers alike. "We have a problem."

"Care to share?"

"Would love to" he rushed out, "Aunt Katalin is going to agree to your marriage with Magnus Avery and you will have to go through with it if you don't manage to find yourself an appropriate suitor by this August."

"What? No, Toby!" she demanded angrily, turning to him.

"Listen, we have a plan, okay? She just said you need to find a suitor, a half or pure blood. You don't actually even have to marry them, just pretend to court them and what-not." he listed and she scoffed at him.

"I hope you know how absolutely ridiculous that sounds. Nobody is going to agree to do that." she laughed.

"Dumbledore is already on it. All you have to do is go along with everything and agree okay? okay" he smirked triumphantly and they continued to walk side-by-side. Caledonia didn't want to pretend to love anyone but she equally did not want to marry Magnus Avery. She was stuck and they all knew it.

--

Later that night, when Caledonia finally bid goodbye to her brother, slightly upset to find that he had only come to fill her in on their 'plan' and not because he actually wanted to see her, she trudged back down to the dungeons. However, instead of entering her own room, she entered the one across the hallway.

In his classroom, Severus Snape was sat at his desk reading under lamplight and when his door opened, was about to stand up and shout at the intruder before he saw who it was. Caledonia had a disgruntled expression and his glare instantly dropped into a worried frown as his dark eyes followed her storm across the classroom, right up to him.

When he turned to face her, swivelling his chair, he frowned when she didn't stop. Caledonia walked right up to him, standing between his legs and looking deeply into his eyes, inches away from his face. Snape was noticeably confused, hands placing delicately on her waist where she stood beside him.

"What's wrong?"

"By August, I am going to be married off. One way or another. So I'm not wasting any more time faffing about." she spoke slowly and he frowned.

"What do you--" he didn't, however, get the chance to respond as her lips were on his deeply, lips moving violently and his own eyes fluttered shut. It was something he hadn't at all expected from her, but his hand quickly dropped the quill he was holding as he reached his hands up to cup her cheeks.

"I don't know how long I have left to freely kiss who I choose, Severus. So I'm not wasting any more time," she informed him as they parted and his dark eyes assessed her face for a long time before he stood, staring down at her short stance. There was a noticeable flash of fear through her doe eyes- Fear that he was going to reject her completely. Severus Snape did no-such thing as he pressed his lips to hers once more, accepting her words. They didn't know where it was going or whether it would all end in heartbreak but on that night of January in that dark classroom- They accepted their attraction for one another...