Mara's Magic

ii - petrified

I spent the rest of the evening with my boyfriend. We celebrated our win with the rest of the House for a little bit before finding a bit of peace and quiet in the Astronomy Tower. I hadn't had very much alone time with him since the start of term, so I relished in the feeling of his arms wrapped around me with my head rested on his chest as we stared up at the open sky.

He kissed the top of my head before settling his cheek back on my scalp. "I've missed this."

"Me too," I agreed quietly. I clasped the hand closest to me in mine and smiled to myself, kissing each of his knuckles.

"What is it that you do with Snape after class?" He questioned out of the blue, the inquiry catching me off guard. I turned a bit to look at him.

"I'm sorry?"

"What do you stay after class for with Snape? I mean, I know that you don't need the extra help, so what is it?" He asked again. His eyebrows were furrowed deeply, as though he'd been dwelling on this for a while. The way that he phrased the situation made something click in my head.

"You don't think that I'm hooking up with Snape, do you?" I laughed.

His cheeks flushed red and I laughed again.

"You do!" I accused, turning to face him completely.

"No!" He objected.

"Oh, yeah? What did you think it was, then?" I asked with a cheeky grin. He cleared his throat awkwardly, rubbing his neck out of instinct.

"Well, I mean, I believed it was an option... but, I didn't want to believe it... for obvious reasons," he stumbled on his words and I giggled again, his eyes falling to the ground. I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"I promise that I'm not sleeping with our Potions' professor," I said earnestly, making him look me in the eyes. "Honestly, if you'd think that I'd cheat on you, my amazing, gorgeous, determined, sweet, handsome Keeper of a boyfriend, with Snape, our old, greasy Potions' professor, then we've got some big problems when it comes to the trust in our relationship."

He smiled sheepishly, letting it turn into a playful grin. "Well, when you say it like that... I am a bit of a catch, aren't I?"

"You are a Keeper, love," I said with a wink and a giggle. He rolled his eyes and pressed a kiss to my lips and I reciprocated eagerly. We kissed for a few moments before he pulled away gently again.

"So, why do you stay after class?" He asked again. I sighed, taking one of his hands in my own and playing with his fingers.

"Well," I started. "It's got to do with my, well, you know, my magic problems."

"Is he helping you fix it?" He asked. I started to nod but then furrowed my brows and shrugged.

"Yes? Kind of? I don't really know. We're trying a new method to see if it works. It's all based off of this theory I have that my wand is the problem," I answered.

"How so?" He asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Well, Dumbledore has said that I have an excess of magic. Or at least, an excess of uncontrollable magic. Maybe it would be easier to control if I wasn't trying to funnel it through a wand. If I let it out naturally, then maybe it would cooperate," I explained, hesitating on a few of my words. I wondered if it sounded crazy.

"That seems pretty sound," he nodded. "How're you testing that theory?"

"Wandless and nonverbal magic," I said. He raised his brows.

"Is it working?" He asked. I nodded. "Wow." He pulled me back into his arms, holding my tight to his chest. "You are amazing, love."

My heart fluttered and I smiled softly. "Yeah?"