Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Harry Potter and (the rest of) The Beast Within ❯ Chapter (IDEFK): (I’m just going to title this “Confessions of a teenage pervert”) ( Chapter 5 )

(NM)MNK – This chapter is going to be cut down to size because it was largely porn. Porn which, I remind you, I had no business writing and no understanding of. You’re welcome for deleting that. It was awful. I suffered for you.

I don't own Harry Potter; my nose didn't turn into a ski pole, so obviously I'm telling the truth.

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Chapter (IDEFK): (I’m just going to title this “Confessions of a teenage pervert”)

The next morning, Harry and his friends awoke with a start. They carried their stacks of gifts down to the common room, only to be surprised by seeing Sapphire sitting with Hermione on the couch, laughing about something that had happened the day before. Harry suddenly became very nervous. What if she didn’t like what he’d gotten her? He hadn’t had much money with him...

Suddenly her big, catlike navy eyes lit on him, and his fear dissipated. There was so much love in those eyes...He grinned back. He had nothing to worry about. The friends sat down together, (On the floor, of course) and began exchanging their gifts. Once every gift was with its recipient, they began opening them. Harry looked down at the small box that Sapphire had set in front of him. He looked curiously up at her, his fear returning. He carefully tore off the sparkling grey paper, only to find a small black velvet box, much like the one that had held the necklace he’d gotten her. His anxiety returned tenfold. What if what she’d given him was better than what he’d given her?

“Go on, Koibito.” She smiled. “It may not look like much, but it’s got a story behind it.” Feeling somewhat relieved, he lifted the lid. His eyes bugged. Nestled in the box was a rope-chain of some strange black metal, with a slide pendant of a green stone a little bigger than a lady bug, but a little smaller than a June bug, set in the same metal. Everyone in range stared at the necklace in his hands. “The Black Steel chain was my father’s,” Sapphire explained, holding him close. “Peridot and I took trip home the other day, and one of our Lican Sisters put together the pendant with a gem from the caves just a few miles from our home. The stone is only found on planets like ours.” Harry gasped as she turned it over. On the back were engraved two words in her native language, in a penmanship he recognized as her own. She read the words aloud, gazing into his emerald eyes as she helped him fasten it around his neck. “It means “For eternity.”

“Thanks, Sapphire,” he said softly, handing her the small box he’d gotten her, his hands visibly shaking. She delicately pulled away the red and gold wrapping and lifted the lid of her box. Sapphire stared into her lap for a moment. Harry became nervous again.

“Something wrong, Hon?” he asked, straining to gain control of his voice. She turned to gaze teary-eyed at him, and threw her arms around his neck.

“Nothing’s wrong,” her voice cracked, the smile taking over her face. “Thank you,” she whispered in his ear, then kissed him on the cheek. The pendant on the sturdy white gold chain was shaped somewhat like a poppy; each delicate petal had been formed of a single unique sapphire, and all were the very same hue of navy as her eyes. The center of the poppy was formed of a fine ribbon of yellow gold and a small black diamond. The pendant was solidly set in white gold, and the word “Eternity” had been engraved on the back of the setting. He gently lifted the necklace from its box and clasped it around her neck.

“You do know what that engraving on the back means, right?” he asked hesitantly.

“I’ve got an idea, but I’m not one to jump to conclusions, Harry.” He took her hand in his own, and locked eyes with her.

“It means that I don’t want this to end when I graduate.” He smiled nervously, not noticing that most of the other Gryffindors had come down to mingle, and were staring at them. “Sapphire, would you stay with me after I graduate? ---I’m not asking you to marry me or something, I’m just--”

“Even if you were asking that,” Sapphire murmured, pulling him close, “I’d still say ‘Yes.’” She finally pulled away, leaving him stunned.

“Y...You mean...if I’d just proposed to you...RIGHT NOW...you’d have said YES?!” he stammered, his voice cracking on the last word. She chuckled warmly, scooting over to sit closer to him, and wrapping her tail around his waist.

“Precisely, koibito.” She smiled, holding him close, and murmured a phrase in that strange language of hers.” He grew confused because a couple of the words sounded like English, but it didn’t make sense.

“You have passion for my arse?”

Hermione grinned. “She said ‘I love you.’”

“And Koibito?”

“...is just like adding the letter ‘r’ to ‘Koi’ in English.” Sapphire smirked. Harry thought for a moment, thinking back on what she told him ‘koi’ meant, then it hit him. His face turned bright red as his eyes widened to twice their normal size. Everyone laughed as he cleared his throat.

“Um...Sapphire?” he squeaked. “Can I talk to you for a moment? Somewhere else?” he hinted, hoping the others wouldn’t catch the double meaning of his words. She rolled her eyes, smirking, and followed him out the portrait hole.

“How do you KNOW these things?” Ron asked Hermione as Harry and Sapphire exited the room. The moment they left, Harry shoved Sapphire into the wall and began kissing her hungrily, neither knowing nor caring if anyone was watching. When he finally pulled back, she blushed, smiling sheepishly.

“Um, I think we’d better go to the tower, Harry. Someone might see us.” He smiled warmly, and they raced up the stairs to her room at the top of the tower.

~*~

A few hours later, Sapphire and Harry lay back on her bed, thinking back on everything that had just happened. “Aren’t you glad,” Sapphire said, “that we didn’t have an audience for that?”

Harry snorted. “Considering how awkward it was, definitely. I shudder to think of the horrible fanfiction someone might have written about us.”

“And Crystal calls me mean.”

~*~

Azalea stood outside the Potions Master’s office, hesitating. Should she go in? Should she bother? She HAD made an emergency trip home just for the occasion…If anything justified continuing on, that did. But still…

Just as she was turning around to leave, the door opened. She froze, as if hoping that if she didn’t move, nobody would see her. “Azalea…” the soft, silky voice purred from the office. “…Do come in.”

She swallowed her nervousness as one would swallow some bitter medicine, only without the gagging fit, and entered the office. Severus Snape sat in his chair by the fire, smiling invitingly at her. “Good morning, Professor,” she said softly, staring at the floor.

“How many times must I ask you to call me Severus, Azalea?” he asked quietly. “Please…Sit.” She nervously took a seat in the chair opposite of his. “What brings you here?”

“I know that this is probably too fast, eh, Severus…” she admitted, reaching into her pocket. “But I…brought you something.” She handed him a small black velvet-covered box about the size of a ring box. He eyed her nervously while opening it. “The chain is Black Steel, a metal native to my homeland. The gem is Tourmaline.” Noting the fuschia and emerald toned gem with appreciation, he reverently latched the long chain around his neck. It would serve to remind him of Azalea, he thought, long after she resumed her wandering. “The chain’s also long enough that you can wear it under your robes, if you wish,” she added.

“Thank you, Azalea.” He smiled softly. “I’ve long admired Tourmaline for its properties regarding potion-making, without ever realizing how truly beautiful it is…I thank you for this wonderful gift. Still, what prompted this? –Not trying to say I don’t appreciate it, that is….”

“Years before I came to Hogwarts…” she answered hesitantly, clearly having difficulty forcing the answer out. “…I had a relationship with a human named Troy Equus. To make a long story short, I gave him my heart and he stomped all over it. It had been a fast, short relationship, and he was usually offended by some innocent little thing I did or said. What really hurt, though, was the night when I went to his house around seven for a date at 7:15, and found him in bed with one of the human women I’d considered a friend.” She sighed, and stared into the flames. “I shut myself away from then on, hiding behind my façade so I wouldn’t get hurt again. You’re the first person to manage to pull me out of that, other than family, and even THEY didn’t succeed very well.” He was about to say something when she lifted her hand to cut him off. “I don’t expect anything in return, Severus. You probably don’t return my feelings, and I’m used to that. I just needed to let you know.”

“Azalea,” he said softly, leaning forward and laying a hand on her knee, “I DO return your feelings.” Her eyes widened. “And I guess I can go ahead and give you YOUR Christmas present, now.” He stood and took a small vial from the mantle. “Do you see this?” he asked, gesturing to the vial of clear liquid. “This is the Altering Potion. It’s among the oldest and simplest poisons out there. I’m not sure how they got it, but THIS is the poison that was forced upon Crystal; the fact that it’s had such an effect on one as strong as your kind suggests there was also a hex involved.”

 “How did you know about Crystal?” she asked in shock. “And how did you get it out?!”

“I overheard your explanation to Mr. Zabini, and Dumbledore asked for my help. Second…I didn’t get it out. I analyzed a sample of the blood she left on the door frame that very day, and set to searching for the missing ingredient. Not a few days ago, I discovered what it was, and searched my cupboards for a sample. And here’s my gift…” He set down the vial and picked up another from the mantle, which held a small amount of a brackish-looking black liquid. “This is the antidote to the poison.” Her eyes lit up. “There’s a 99% chance that she’ll recover once given this potion. I’m not sure, however, that it will work on Salzains.”

Azalea wasn’t sure what to say to that; instead, she grabbed him by the robes, pulled him close, and kissed him. Her father’s pendant felt cool through the cloth of her shirt, and she knew without a doubt it was meant to be there.

~*~ 

Harry and Sapphire walked into the breakfast hall hand in hand. The other Gryffindors smirked and teased him.

“Hey, Potter!” Seamus Finnigan called out. “Can my sister watch next time? She has a crush on you.” Harry was about to go over and pound the gutsy idiot senseless, when he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye. He glanced nervously at Sapphire as she calmly picked up a large green apple in her right hand. She gently tossed it a few inches into the air, then caught it in the same hand. She did this for a moment, looking thoughtful, and Harry was starting to worry. Was she about to brain the kid with a Granny Smith?

Suddenly, she tossed it several feet up into the air, snatched a knife off the nearest table, and threw it at the apple. The whole hall was dead silent as they watched the knife lodge itself in the ceiling, then the cored apple as it landed in her hand with a soft ‘smack.’ Without turning around, she carelessly tossed it over her shoulder. The whole hall gaped as the apple landed right smack in the middle of the plate before Seamus, upright.

“Tell your sister to keep her paws off him,” she sneered over her shoulder at Seamus, who’d turned sheet white. “Harry Potter is mine.” With that, she continued on toward the middle of the Gryffindor table, where their friends were sitting, leaving Harry behind staring at her back in complete shock.

Seamus  swallowed. “I was just…joking?”