The Raven and The Snake

Time seemed to be moving fast. Ariadne had to pass Delphini off to Draco during the wedding rehearsal. She felt oddly lonely with the little thing in her hands though she knew she had no right.

The dinner was a stiff occasion. Ariadne sitting across from Snape, hardly touching the wine. She had a sense that something was off with Snape, though she wasn't sure what it was. "Is something wrong?" She asked him quietly when they had a moment.

He looked at her coolly, his black eyes not betraying him today. "Actually, I have a gift for you."

She tilted her head. She hadn't expected that. From his cloak, he drew a small stack of pictures a little worse for wear and bound together. Eyeing him cautiously, she took the pictures.

A bizarre warmth spread through her as she gazed down at them. They were all pictures of her father.

Regulus Black had been a handsome young man. He was several years younger than Sirius and had never learned the carefree smile of his brother. Where Sirius had been cool and relaxed, Regulus was a little stiff and nervous. Still, in the pictures he smiled, waved, talked to other people, and stood with his family.

It was obvious in one small family photo that he had looked up to his brother. Sirius had been a Gryffindor, openly rebelling against the stern Slytherin purebloods he'd been born to. In the picture he was shrugging off the hand of his scowling mother and making rude gestures toward the camera. Next to him, Regulus kept sneaking peaks over at his older brother, his lips twitching in a smile, his eyes gleaming with admiration.

The two men had led very different lives as they grew older. Sirius, never feeling at home with the Black family, had opted to run away as soon as possible. He'd spent holidays with friends rather than return to Grimmauld Place in London. At school, he'd had little to do with the baby brother that had been sorted into a different house several years after he'd already made a point of being unique.

Still, they'd had something in common toward the end Regulus's life. While Sirius had been a ready member of the Order of the Phoenix right after graduation, Regulus had joined up with the Death Eaters just after finishing his OWLS. Regulus, however, had had a change of heart.

Sirius, as far as anyone knew, had never experienced a deep, earth-shattering love. He'd surely done alright for himself, handsome and charming as he was. Regulus had been the deep one. Regulus had met Leticia and changed his life. By the end of Regulus's life, he may well have been someone his elder brother would have been proud to call family. He threw away the old prejudices, falling for a squib and turning against the Dark Lord.

He had died before he ever knew that Leticia was pregnant, leaving only a locket with a single picture.

Ariadne blinked away tears, feeling a little embarrassed by the emotion that had been conjured by seeing her father. "Where did you get these?"

"The Order's Headquarters." Snape breathed softly, hardly daring to raise his voice enough to be heard.

She nodded slowly. He had gone back to Grimmauld Place, the former home of Sirius Black. He must have stripped the house searching for these pictures, taking all the ones he could that weren't stuck down with permanent sticking charms. No doubt, the Order had set measures to keep Snape from wanting to venture into the house again since his apparent betrayal. Even so, he'd done it anyway and given her these.

She pursed her lips, looking up at him. She wasn't fooled. While this a lovely gesture, a very kind gift, there was no way this was the only thing he had gathered from the Order's old headquarters. She gazed at him steadily, making it clear she wished to know what else he had taken.

He scowled momentarily. "What else do you want?"

She glared, dragging out his name in what was very nearly a whine. "Severus..."

Glaring right back, he reached back into his cloak and removed another picture. This one was torn and featured a smiling redheaded woman with stunning green eyes, laughing at something that must have been happening in the rest of the picture. Ariadne's lip twitched, her eyes softening.

She glanced back up at Snape, seeing pain in his face. "Oh, Sev. Please stop with this."

"I can't." He gasped, his breath hitching.

She pressed the photo back into him, pushing it to his chest. "Lily Evans is a part of who you are, stop apologizing for that. I told you, I'm not looking to change you or your feelings. If I feel anything at all toward her, it's grateful." Ariadne rose up onto her toes, pressing a light kiss to his cheek. She retreated with her photos of her father clutched tightly in her hands and went to help Draco with Delphini who was crying again.

She didn't see Snape again till the next day as it was traditional that the bride and groom be separate the night before the wedding.