The Raven and The Snake

"He gave you a snake?" Birdie stared at the little black snake that was curled at Ariadne's throat.

The snake was a female and hardly more than a hatchling. Ariadne had dubbed it Antigone. Ariadne had to be very careful not to speak to the snake whenever there were others around. "Yes," Ariadne smiled, tickling the smooth, scaly head that was about the size of a galleon.

"If that isn't some sort of phallic symbol, then I don't know what is." Birdie threw up her hands and fell back against the sofa in the common room. "I don't know, maybe you do have a shot with him." Ariadne's face heated. "Hush, Birdie. It's not like that. It's completely one-sided on my part and I'm... getting over it."

Birdie's brows shot up to her hairline. "Oh? Might this have something to do with that scarf you wearing before Christmas?"

Ariadne glanced around to make sure people weren't listening too closely. She gave the barest of nods and Birdie squealed into her hands. "How far has it gone?"

This made Ariadne uncomfortable. Things between her and the twins had gone much further than was considered appropriate for underaged witches and wizards, but it hadn't been all the way yet. She found it much easier to be chaste when it was just George who was gentle and not demanding. Things got more heated when Fred got involved.

Fred was very passionate and he had heavy sway over how George handled her. If she and George started slowly, Fred could relax into her. If she started kissing Fred first or got overly worked up, he would immediately start ripping at her clothes and George would join the tide of his excitement.

Birdie was a little crestfallen to hear that things weren't going further. Birdie didn't have any qualms about how things were progressing in her own relationship. She and Rob were now very sexually active and she seemed under the impression that everyone ought to be at that stage now.

"When do you think you'll go the rest of the way?" Birdie asked conspiratorially.

Ariadne bit her lip anxiously. "I don't know if I want to do that, Bird. I love them, but I don't think I can handle doing that with them."

Birdie pouted. "So you're just going to keep getting each other off in broom closets and never go the extra mile? You're practically already there, Aria. You should just get it over with."

Ariadne paled at the thought of just getting her virginity "over with". It seemed like a very 'Valentine' way of thinking. She tasted blood while nibbling her lip.

"I'm not ready, Birdie. Just leave it at that."

To their credit, not even the more excitable Fred had attempted to remove her unmentionables. Their hands never slipped within the fabric and they never tried to remove their own. They were waiting on Ariadne to give them the go ahead and she wasn't budging.

Her new year's resolution was to dial it back with the twins, but it turned out to be unnecessary. A surprisingly brave girl had asked Fred out and he accepted the date to Hogsmeade for Valentine's Day before he'd even thought about it. Ariadne gave an encouraging little smile. That was good for him. He hadn't seemed to like her easy acceptance of him moving on, but didn't think it was worth their friendship to kick up a fuss.

George had attempted to kiss Ariadne's neck one day, but when he pulled back her hair and spied the little snake she'd been wearing like a choker, he stopped. "Where did that come from?"

Ariadne smiled fondly as the snake poked it's head out from the curtain of her hair and flicked its tongue at George. "Professor Snape gave it to me for Christmas. Its shed skin is a really valuable potion ingredient. You see the scales? Sharp like a dragon when it gets bigger."

George eyed the little snake shrewdly then looked into her face until she turned pink. "Professor Snape gave you that snake?"

The implication in his voice had been as obvious as Birdie's. He seemed to think there was more to it than a slightly odd Christmas present. Ariadne tried to argue, but he didn't say anything. He just pursed his lips and continued to shoot glances at it from the corner of his eye.

Ariadne didn't know what to make of their unspoken accusations. It really didn't feel like anything more special to her. The present she'd given Professor Snape had taken a lot of time and effort and she'd been so grateful to him over the

summer.

She watched Professor Snape closely to see if he was in any way different with her. He gave nothing away, just went about his schedule as usual. He didn't even seem bothered that she'd called him by his first name, not that she'd done it again. In class, he was still Professor Snape.

Snuffles returned to her room and looked at the little snake curiously. He didn't seem terribly bothered by it, just confused. She explained to him that it was meant for potions which was her best subject. Being a dog, he acted as though this was perfectly meaningless to him, but she'd been certain that his brief disappearance meant that he really was Sirius Black in disguise.